Title

The operating system must enforce a minimum 15-character password length. (Cat II impact)

Discussion

The shorter the password, the lower the number of possible combinations that need to be tested before the password is compromised. Password complexity, or strength, is a measure of the effectiveness of a password in resisting attempts at guessing and brute-force attacks. Password length is one factor of several that helps to determine strength and how long it takes to crack a password. Use of more characters in a password helps to exponentially increase the time and/or resources required to compromise the password.

Check Content

Verify the operating system enforces a minimum 15-character password length. If it does not, this is a finding.

Fix Text

Configure the operating system to enforce a minimum 15-character password length.

Additional Identifiers

Rule ID: SV-203634r557628_rule

Vulnerability ID: V-203634

Group Title: SRG-OS-000078

Expert Comments

CCIs tied to check.

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