Title

Forescout must enforce password complexity by requiring that at least one uppercase character be used. (Cat II impact)

Discussion

Use of a complex passwords helps to increase the time and resources required to compromise the password. Password complexity, or strength, is a measure of the effectiveness of a password in resisting attempts at guessing and brute-force attacks. Password complexity is one factor of several that determine how long it takes to crack a password. The more complex the password is, the greater the number of possible combinations that need to be tested before the password is compromised. Multifactor authentication (MFA) is required for all administrative and user accounts on network devices, except for an account of last resort and, where applicable, a root account. Passwords must only be used when MFA using PKI is not available, and for the account of last resort and root account.

Check Content

1. From the menu, select Tools >> Options >> CounterACT User Profiles >> Password and Sessions. 2. Verify the first "password must contain at least" is checked. 3. Verify there is a minimum of one in the "upper case alphabetic characters" configuration box. If the Forescout does not enforce password complexity by requiring that at least one uppercase character be used, this is a finding.

Fix Text

Configure Forescout to require a minimum of one uppercase character. 1. From the menu, select Tools >> Options >> CounterACT User Profiles >> Password and Sessions. 2. Check the first "password must contain at least" option. 3. Add a 1 (or higher) in the "upper case alphabetic characters" configuration box.

Additional Identifiers

Rule ID: SV-230963r1018756_rule

Vulnerability ID: V-230963

Group Title: SRG-APP-000166-NDM-000254

Expert Comments

CCIs tied to check.

Controls tied to check. These are derived from the CCIs shown above.