[Solved] Dovecot imap-login fails

Question

I have been working on this for hours and I have little idea what is wrong. I have dovecot setup to authenticate via PAM. I am sure that the PAM authentication is correct as a wrong password returns a bad auth error. However, when the initial authentication happens it feels like PAM isn't returning my UID.
Config:
protocols = imap
mail_location = maildir:~/.mail
passdb {
driver = pam
#<DEBUG>
args = failure_show_msg=yes dovecot
#</DEBUG>
ssl = required
ssl_cert = </etc/ssl/certs/dovecot.pem
ssl_key = </etc/ssl/private/dovecot.pem
ssl_cipher_list = ECDHE-ECDSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384:HIGH
#<DEBUG>
auth_verbose=yes
auth_debug=yes
#</DEBUG>
Error:
Apr 30 21:43:39 example.org dovecot[20497]: auth: Debug: Loading modules from directory: /usr/lib/dovecot/modules/auth
Apr 30 21:43:39 example.org dovecot[20497]: auth: Debug: Read auth token secret from /var/run/dovecot/auth-token-secret.dat
Apr 30 21:43:39 example.org dovecot[20497]: auth: Debug: auth client connected (pid=20500)
Apr 30 21:43:40 example.org dovecot[20497]: auth: Debug: client in: AUTH 1 PLAIN service=imap secured session=gbQRcUn41gDH1CFX lip=192.168.1.1 rip=172.16.1.1 lport=993 rport=35286 resp=<hidden>
Apr 30 21:43:40 example.org dovecot[20497]: auth-worker(20503): Debug: Loading modules from directory: /usr/lib/dovecot/modules/auth
Apr 30 21:43:40 example.org dovecot[20497]: auth-worker(20503): Debug: pam(myusername,172.16.1.1): lookup service=dovecot
Apr 30 21:43:40 example.org dovecot[20497]: auth-worker(20503): Debug: pam(myusername,172.16.1.1): #1/1 style=1 msg=Password:
Apr 30 21:43:40 example.org dovecot[20497]: auth: Debug: client passdb out: OK 1 user=myusername
Apr 30 21:43:40 example.org dovecot[20497]: auth: Debug: master in: REQUEST 158597121 20500 1 8026dcae28bb986805dfea459a9879da session_pid=20504 request_auth_token
Apr 30 21:43:40 example.org dovecot[20497]: auth: Debug: master userdb out: USER 158597121 myusername auth_token=de32f97064bc1c4215b205d41ad36fd9eb8d466a
Apr 30 21:43:40 example.org dovecot[20497]: imap-login: Login: user=<myusername>, method=PLAIN, rip=172.16.1.1, lip=192.168.1.1, mpid=20504, TLS, session=<gbQRcUn41gDH1CFX>
Apr 30 21:43:40 example.org dovecot[20497]: imap(keller): Error: user myusername: Couldn't drop privileges: User is missing UID (see mail_uid setting)
Apr 30 21:43:40 example.org dovecot[20497]: imap(keller): Error: Internal error occurred. Refer to server log for more information.
/ect/pam.d/dovecot
auth required pam_unix.so nullok
account required pam_unix.so
Solution: Authentication is not authorization! I didn't have a userdb setup.
Added to /ect/dovecot/dovecot.conf
userdb {
driver = passwd
Last edited by Nycroth (2014-04-30 22:34:45)

Answer 1

ok, what a pain, login is CASE-SENSITIVE ! So take care what username you take!
hope it helps someone else....
It can also throw strange numbers and letters when trying to login!
best
Hartmut