The PAM framework enables you to configure the requirements that users must satisfy to use an application. The following are some of the benefits that PAM provides:
Flexible PAM configuration policy
Per-service name authentication policy
Site-wide PAM policy and per-user PAM policy
Administrative choice of a default authentication policy
Enforcement of multiple user requirements on high-security systems
Ease of use for the end user
No retyping of identical passwords for different authentication services
User prompting by multiple authentication services rather than requiring a user to type multiple commands
Ease of configuration for the administrator
The ability to pass options to the PAM service module
The ability to implement a site-specific security policy without having to change the applications