Enabling and configuring TACACS+ client on openwrt 23.05

Issue: OpenWrt 23.05 does not include native support or documentation for TACACS+ client configuration. Users attempting to integrate centralized authentication via TACACS+ may find no official packages or guides. This makes it difficult to secure services like SSH or LuCI using TACACS+.

Root cause: TACACS+ is not widely adopted in OpenWrt’s ecosystem, and the default build lacks PAM support, which is commonly used for integrating external authentication systems. Additionally, packages like libtacplus are not available in standard OpenWrt feeds. Without PAM or a dedicated client, services cannot easily communicate with a TACACS+ server.

Solution: To enable TACACS+ client functionality, users must manually compile libtacplus or use custom feeds that include it. Integration with services like SSH may require rebuilding OpenWrt with PAM support or using custom authentication scripts. Logging and testing should be done via logread -f or other system logs to verify authentication attempts.