Title

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

Discussion

Use of a complex password 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, 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 should 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 second "password must contain at least" is checked. 3. Verify there is a minimum of one in the "lower case alphabetic characters" configuration box. If the Forescout does not enforce password complexity by requiring that at least one lower-case character be used, this is a finding.

Fix Text

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

Additional Identifiers

Rule ID: SV-230964r615886_rule

Vulnerability ID: V-230964

Group Title: SRG-APP-000167-NDM-000255

Expert Comments

CCIs tied to check.

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