[SGVLUG] On a currently patched CentOS5 host, PAM_USER not always being set

[Scott Packard]

> ssh localhost
$ cat /tmp/outfile
/usr/local/src/test.sh is running at Sat May  9 20:56:37 PDT 2015
PAM_SERVICE=sshd
PAM_RHOST=localhost.localdomain
PAM_USER=packard
PAM_TYPE=auth
PAM_TTY=ssh

> gnome login
/usr/locaGUI l/src/test.sh is running at Sat May  9 20:58:30 PDT 2015
PAM_SERVICE=gdm
PAM_TYPE=auth
PAM_TTY=:0


On a CentOS5.11 x64 host, fully patched,
during authentication, I've shimmed a pam_exec call to a simple script that
env | grep PAM >> /tmp/outfile

If I'm already logged in, and ssh localhost, then PAM_USER is set,
but if I log out, then try logging in via GNOME, PAM_USER is not set.


This works on CentOS6 and Solaris 10x64.
There was a bug reported about this on an earlier pam rpm, but was fixed in 2013
and I have the latest pam rpm, pam-0.99.6.2-12.el5, which was in at
least RHEL5.9.
Any idea why?
Has anyone bumped into this?
I thought maybe it was an anomaly on another machine so I spent time tonight
building up a fresh CentOS5.11x64 install into virtualbox.  No change.

Regards, Scott