OpenLDAP ACL to allow users to change their password

Question

What ACL should be added slapd.conf to allow users to change their password. We are now having the default ACL allowing only rootdn the rights to modify while allowing reading by everyone including anonymous.

Solution

Try something along the lines of:

access to attrs=userPassword
        by self write
        by anonymous auth
        by users none

access to * by * read

(Note that for security reasons you DON'T want everyone able to read the UserPassword attribute -- that would allow people to skim your shadow/encrypted passwords & run a crack program against them easily.)

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Edit to add requested explanation of the access to attrs=userPassword ACL above

by self write
The logged in user can write (change) their own userPassword attribute -- this is what lets you change your password.

by anonymous auth
Anonymous users (ones who bound to the directory anonymously - that is, without specifying a DN & password) may access userPassword for the sole purpose of authentication (they don't have access to it for any other purposes, like searching or browsing).

by users none
This denies logged in users access to anyone else's userPassword attribute. Theoretically this could be auth as well, but normally (At least in my environment) a logged-in user shouldn't need to authenticate/bind as another user.

Comments

[nitins]

Can you please explain the ACL ? I understand that user is given right to self write password and anonymous users to authenticate. But what is " by users none". After adding the ACL the people currently logged in are not able to autheticate.

[voretaq7]

@nitins See the edit above ; note that each more permissive level encompasses the levels below it (e.g. "write also grants read; read also grants auth)