NearBT

A pluggable authentication module (PAM) on OS X for local authentication with iOS devices (NearBT installed) via Bluetooth LE.

With NearBT, you can,

• Unlock OS X screen saver without typing password (just type return). No need to store your password.
• Add an extra authentication to log in OS X in addition to password. It works like two-factor authentication.
• Also works on authentication dialogs when you make changes on some preferences, and sudo command in Terminal.

Features

Security

• OS X passwords are not saved somewhere regardless of whether passwords are encrypted.
• iOS device identifiers are used in Bluetooth connections.
• Bluetooth pairing is required.
• Time-based One-time Password Algorithm (TOTP) is used to authenticate.
• Open source for both OS X and iOS.

Energy

• Only create a connection when an authentication starts. Stop the connection once the authentication finishes.
• Thanks to Bluetooth Low Energy, it's about 1% in 7 days from iOS's battery usage report.

Customization

• Minimum RSSI (received signal strength indicator). Higher values reduce the valid scope of iOS devices.
• Run scripts when authentication begins or if authentication succeeds or fails.

Run pam_nearbt-setup parameters for more details.

Compatibility

• OS X (>= 10.10)
• iOS (>= 9)

• MacBook (>= 2015)
• MacBook Air (>= 2011)
• MacBook Pro (>= 2012)
• Mac Mini (>= 2011)
• Mac Pro (>= 2013)
• iMac (>= 2012)

• iPhone (>= 4S)
• iPad (>= 4th gen)
• iPad mini
• iPad Air
• iPod Touch (>= 5th gen)

It contains,

• An iOS app -- NearBT
• A pluggable authentication module (PAM) on OS X -- pam_nearbt.so
• A command line setup tool -- pam_nearbt-setup

Uninstallation

Know how to uninstall it before installation.

0. Remove related configuration lines in /etc/pam.d/ before uninstallation.

1. Remove installed files.

sudo rm /usr/local/lib/security/pam_nearbt.so
sudo rm /usr/local/bin/pam_nearbt-setup

2. If you want to remove all configuration files,

rm ~/.config/pam_nearbt/peripheral
rm ~/.config/pam_nearbt/secret
sudo rm /usr/local/etc/pam_nearbt/peripheral
sudo rm /usr/local/etc/pam_nearbt/secret

If you have set other secret path in the PAM's parameters, remember to remove it.

Installation

• Download NearBT-iOS-version.zip and pam_nearbt-signed-version.pkg from latest release
• Extract NearBT-iOS-version.zip and open NearBT.xcodeproj in Xcode, build and run NearBT on your iOS devices.
• Open pam_nearbt-signed-version.pkg and complete the installation.
• Open Terminal, run pam_nearbt-setup and follow the instructions.
• For available PAM parameters, run pam_nearbt-setup parameters.

Alternatives

iOS and OS X

• Knock
• MacID
• Near Lock
• Tether

Other

• libpam-blue
• BlueProximity