# Issues with cron regarding PAM and authentication

## kaizushi

I am having issues with cron, where I get this error if I try to edit my crontab...

```

 crontab -e

You (kaizushi) are not allowed to access to (crontab) because of pam configuration.

```

The auth.log shows this error:

```

Feb 16 17:48:58 stack unix_chkpwd[4353]: could not obtain user info (kaizushi)

```

I have tried turning off SELinux, and the permissions for /var/spool/crontabs seems fine, for some reason I get that auth error. I can log in fine via SSH, so I am not sure why it is doing this.

pwck -r

```

# pwck -r

pwck: no changes

```

getent passwd kaizushi

```

kaizushi:x:1000:1000::/home/kaizushi:/bin/bash

```

my user in shadow with password omitted:

```

kaizushi:omitted:18308:0:99999:7:::

```

The issue was filecaps and I just needed to reinstall 'pam' to fix things. I loaded a backup which did not have the correct extended attributes.

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## Frautoincnam

 *kaizushi wrote:*   

> The issue was filecaps and I just needed to reinstall 'pam' to fix things. I loaded a backup which did not have the correct extended attributes.

 

I had the same problem and your post helped me. Re-emerging pam did the trick.

Thanks

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