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How long is the `sudo` password timeout?

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    hwahyeon
    Twitter

I discovered that after using a sudo command and entering the password, the system doesn’t ask for the password again for a few minutes. I’d like to know the exact duration and what’s happening behind the curtain.

According to various articles, this period is typically 10-15 minutes. To check or adjust this time exactly, you can refer to the /etc/sudoers file and look for the timestamp_timeout option.

Defaults timestamp_timeout=15
  • Here, 15 means 15 minutes. If you set it to 10, the duration will be 10 minutes.
  • If you set it to 0, you will need to enter the password every time you use sudo.
  • If you set it to -1, you will only need to enter the password once, and it won’t ask again until the system is rebooted.

Additionally, there’s another option in /etc/sudoers that allows you to bypass the password prompt entirely. By adding the following line:

username ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: ALL

This will allow the specified user to use sudo without entering a password.

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