Information
The su command allows a user to run a command or shell as another user. The program has been superseded by sudo, which allows for more granular control over privileged access. Normally, the su command can be executed by any user. By uncommenting the pam_wheel.so statement in /etc/pam.d/su, the su command will only allow users in the sudo group to execute su.
Rationale:
Restricting the use of su, and using sudo in its place, provides system administrators better control of the escalation of user privileges to execute privileged commands. The sudo utility also provides a better logging and audit mechanism, as it can log each command executed via sudo, whereas su can only record that a user executed the su program.
Solution
Add the following line to the /etc/pam.d/su file:
auth required pam_wheel.so
Create a comma separated list of users in the sudo statement in the /etc/group file:
sudo:x:10:root,<user list>
Notes:
The use_uid option to pam_wheel.so is a no-op on debian based systems. It is acceptable but not required as these systems use its behavior as default.