bad entry in /etc/pam.d/system-auth file

Question

We recently installed AL2 and found a bad entry in the /etc/pam.d/system-auth file.  The offending line looked as follows (contains leading dash):  
  
**-session     optional      pam_systemd.so**  
  
-----------------  
Not sure how to proceed to get this fixed?  It does cause the following error during certain sudo commands:  
  
**sudo: PAM (sudo) illegal module type: -session**

ssuryad · Accepted Answer

The entry which is specified is not a bad entry, it is used  
"If a line in the configuration file starts with a dash, the error isn't logged. This can be useful for modules that may not be present, for example, a module for fingerprint authentication may not be present, but if it is, it should be used."  
Take a look at these:  
https://www.redhat.com/archives/pam-list/2009-October/msg00028.html  
http://wpollock.com/AUnix2/PAM-Help.htm  
What commands are you running which cause these errors?

kerryd · Answer

Hi,  
Thanks for the explanation.  That makes sense now.  
  
FWIW. the command was running in a script and looked something like the following:  
  
sudo -u $run_as_user $actual_env_path/setup_handler_cache

bad entry in /etc/pam.d/system-auth file

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