No write access to parent

Question

I am facing an issue chen trying to setup an openldap server with chef.

Configuration:

• Ubuntu 15.04
• OpenLdap 2.4.31
• Chef/OpenLdap 2.7.1

For information, when I run dkpg-reconfigure slapd (which is not an option when trying to automate the process), part 1 of the issue is solved (w/o changing any phpldapadmin configuration file) but part 2 remains.

Part 1: when accessing to the admin account to phpldapadmin, the admin user is not accessible (message: This base cannot be created with PLA.)

Part 2: when trying to execute sudo ldapadd -Y EXTERNAL -H ldapi:/// -f /tmp/db.ldif the error message is:

STDERR: SASL/EXTERNAL authentication started
SASL username: gidNumber=0+uidNumber=0,cn=peercred,cn=external,cn=auth
SASL SSF: 0
ldap_add: Insufficient access (50)
    additional info: no write access to parent

slapd.conf

include         /etc/ldap/schema/core.schema
include         /etc/ldap/schema/cosine.schema
include         /etc/ldap/schema/inetorgperson.schema
include         /etc/ldap/schema/nis.schema

pidfile         /var/run/slapd/slapd.pid
argsfile        /var/run/slapd/slapd.args

loglevel        0

modulepath      /usr/lib/ldap
moduleload  back_hdb

sizelimit 500
tool-threads 1

database        hdb
suffix          "dc=a6,dc=com"
rootdn          "cn=admin,dc=a6,dc=com"
rootpw          {SSHA}a6a6aa66a6a6a6a6a6a6a6
directory       "/var/lib/ldap"
lastmod         on

dbconfig set_cachesize 0 31457280 0

dbconfig set_lk_max_objects 1500
dbconfig set_lk_max_locks 1500
dbconfig set_lk_max_lockers 1500

index default pres,eq,approx,sub
index objectClass eq
index cn,ou,sn,uid,l,mail,gecos,memberUid,description
index loginShell,homeDirectory pres,eq,approx
index uidNumber,gidNumber pres,eq

db.ldif

dn: dc=a6,dc=com
objectClass: top
objectClass: dcObject
objectClass: organization
dc: a6
o: a6
description: A6

dn: cn=admin,dc=a6,dc=com
cn: admin
description: LDAP administrator
objectclass: simpleSecurityObject
objectclass: organizationalRole
userpassword: {SSHA}Aa6a6aa66a6a6a6a6a6a6a6

dn: ou=users,dc=a6,dc=com
objectClass: top
objectClass: organizationalUnit
ou: users

dn: ou=groups,dc=a6,dc=com
objectClass: top
objectClass: organizationalUnit
ou: groups

dn: cn=administrators,ou=groups,dc=a6,dc=com
objectClass: posixGroup
cn: administrators
gidNumber: 500

dn: uid=co,ou=administrators,dc=a6,dc=com
objectclass: inetOrgPerson
objectclass: posixAccount
cn: co
gidnumber: 500
givenname: Jack
homedirectory: /home/co
loginshell: /bin/bash
uid: co
uidnumber: 1000
userpassword:  {SSHA}a6a6aa66a6a6a6a6a6a6a6

Thanks for your help. L.

Solution 1

I met the same error:

CMD: ldapadd -Y EXTERNAL -H ldapi:/// -f base.ldif

SASL/EXTERNAL authentication started
SASL username: gidNumber=0+uidNumber=0,cn=peercred,cn=external,cn=auth
SASL SSF: 0
adding new entry "dc=example,dc=com"
ldap_add: Insufficient access (50)
        additional info: no write access to parent

And my base.ldif content:

CMD: cat base.ldif

dn: dc=example,dc=com
objectClass: dcObject
objectclass: organization
o: example.com
dc: example
description: My LDAP Root

dn: cn=admin,dc=example,dc=com
objectClass: simpleSecurityObject
objectClass: organizationalRole
cn: admin
userPassword: secret
description: LDAP administrator

I fixed the error with command:

 ldapadd -x -D 'cn=admin,dc=example,dc=com' -w secret -H ldapi:/// -f base.ldif

Successful:

adding new entry "dc=example,dc=com"

adding new entry "cn=admin,dc=example,dc=com"

Solution 2

The default ACL do not allow this. External authentication do not have write access to the tree; only the ldap admin/super-user (rootdn) has that. (Actually it bypasses all ACL.)

So either bind as the ldap admin – as the other answer suggest – or add your own acl rules.

I use this as the first acl rule:

to * by dn.exact=gidNumber=0+uidNumber=0,cn=peercred,cn=external,cn=auth write by * break

You can also use manage instead of write.