PAM_END(3)

💅 PAM_END(3) — bestie's guide to wrapping up a PAM transaction ✨

okay so this is a page from the Linux-PAM Manual and it's literally about saying goodbye to your PAM transaction properly 🎀

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🌸 NAME 🌸

pam_end — the termination of a PAM transaction, aka how you clock out 👑

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✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

#include <security/pam_appl.h>

int pam_end(pam_handle_t *pamh, int pam_status);

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💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

so pam_end is the function that terminates the PAM transaction, and it's the last function an application should call in the PAM context. like, last-last. the final boss of cleanup 🧹✨

the moment it returns? the handle pamh is no longer valid, and all memory associated with it is invalid too. gone. not coming back. don't touch it 💀

the pam_status argument should be set to the value that the last PAM library call returned to your application — just pass the vibes of how things went 🫶

now here's the fun part: whatever value you give pam_status gets used as an argument to the module-specific callback function, cleanup() (see pam_set_data(3) and pam_get_data(3)). so the module gets a lil notification about the pass/fail nature of the tear-down process, and can do any last-minute tasks that make sense for it before it gets unlinked. main character exit energy, honestly 💅

this argument can be logically OR'd with PAM_DATA_SILENT to tell the module it shouldn't take the call too seriously. it's generally used to say "hey, the current closing of the library is happening in a fork(2)ed process, and the parent's gonna handle cleaning up the stuff that lives outside the current process space (files etc.)" — so like, chill, mom's got it 🙈

and lastly: this function frees all the memory for items associated with pam_set_item(3) and pam_get_item(3). so any pointers associated with those objects? not valid anymore after pam_end was called. periodt 🔥

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⭐ RETURN VALUES ⭐

• PAM_SUCCESS — slay, the transaction was successful terminated 💚
• PAM_SYSTEM_ERR — uh oh, system error. for example a NULL pointer was submitted as the PAM handle, or the function was called by a module 😭

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🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

pam_get_data(3), pam_set_data(3), pam_start(3), pam_strerror(3) — go read these next, iykyk 💜

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ngl bestie, once pam_end runs, that handle is done. don't be the person who dereferences it afterwards. i'm begging 🫶

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mwah 💋 that's the whole page — brought to you by Linux-PAM, dated 07/08/2026, and yes it's still called PAM_END(3) in case you forgot already 🎀✨