NOAUTH(5)

💖 NOAUTH(5) — the AFS file that says "no auth needed bestie" 💖

ok so real talk, this is NoAuth, a page from the AFS File Reference section of the manual, and it's about one little file that has SO much power. buckle up 🎀

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✨ NAME ✨

NoAuth — disables authorization checking. that's it. that's the whole vibe. 💅

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🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

okay so picture this: if the NoAuth file exists inside a server machine's /var/lib/openafs/local directory, it's basically telling the AFS server processes running on that machine: "bestie, you don't gotta do authorization checking, we're chill." 🫶

and what does that mean in practice? it means those server processes will perform any action for any user who logs into the machine's local file system, or who issues a remote command that affects the machine's AFS server functioning — think commands from the AFS command suites. yeah. anything. 😭

⚠️ and here's the important part, no cap: failing to check authorization exposes the machine's AFS server functionality to attack. this is not a cute little vibe, this is a whole security situation. so normally, there are only two circumstances where this file should even be present:

• During installation of the machine, as instructed in the OpenAFS Quick Start Guide. 🧚
• During correction of a server encryption key emergency, as discussed in the OpenAFS Administration Guide. 🔥

in all other circumstances, the absence of the file means the AFS server processes do perform authorization checking — verifying that whoever issued a command actually has the required privilege. as they should. periodt. 👑

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🦋 how do i even create this file 🦋

create it in one of these two ways:

• By issuing the bosserver initialization command with the -noauth flag — but only if the Basic OverSeer (BOS) Server is not already running. ✨
• By issuing the bos setauth command with off as the value for the -authrequired argument — this one's for when the BOS Server is already running. 💜

and to remove the file? issue the bos setauth command with "on" as the value for the -authrequired argument. slay, security restored. 🎀

ngl the file's contents, if any, are completely ignored — an empty (zero-length) file is just as effective. it's giving "presence over personality." 💀

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🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

• bos_setauth(8)
• bosserver(8)

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👑 COPYRIGHT 👑

IBM Corporation 2000. <http://www.ibm.com/> All Rights Reserved.

This documentation is covered by the IBM Public License Version 1.0. It was converted from HTML to POD by software written by Chas Williams and Russ Allbery, based on work by Alf Wachsmann and Elizabeth Cassell. (icons, the lot of them 🫶)

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and that's the whole page bestie!! this one came from OpenAFS, dated 2026-07-27 ✨ mwah, go check your /var/lib/openafs/local directory and stay safe out there 💖