Title

The system must require passwords contain at least one special character. (Cat II impact)

Discussion

To enforce the use of complex passwords, minimum numbers of characters of different classes are mandated. The use of complex passwords reduces the ability of attackers to successfully obtain valid passwords using guessing or exhaustive search techniques. Complexity requirements increase the password search space by requiring users to construct passwords from a larger character set than they may otherwise use.

Check Content

For Trusted Mode: Check the PASSWORD_MIN_SPECIAL_CHARS setting. # cat /etc/default/security | grep PASSWORD_MIN_SPECIAL_CHARS If PASSWORD_MIN_SPECIAL_CHARS is not set to 1 or greater this is a finding. For SMSE: Check the PASSWORD_MIN_SPECIAL_CHARS setting. # grep PASSWORD_MIN_SPECIAL_CHARS /etc/default/security /var/adm/userdb/* If PASSWORD_MIN_SPECIAL_CHARS is not set to 1 or greater, this is a finding.

Fix Text

For Trusted Mode: Use the SAM/SMH interface or edit the /etc/default/security file and update the PASSWORD_MIN_SPECIAL_CHARS attribute. See the below example: PASSWORD_MIN_SPECIAL_CHARS=1 If manually editing the file, save any change(s) before exiting the editor. For SMSE: Note: There may be additional package/bundle updates that must be installed to support attributes in the /etc/default/security file. Use the SAM/SMH interface (/etc/default/security file) and/or the userdbset command (/var/adm/userdb/* files) to update the PASSWORD_MIN_SPECIAL_CHARS attribute. See the below example: PASSWORD_MIN_SPECIAL_CHARS=1 Note: Never use a text editor to modify any /var/adm/userdb database file. The database contains checksums and other binary data, and editors (vi included) do not follow the file locking conventions that are used to control access to the database. If manually editing the /etc/default/security file, save any change(s) before exiting the editor.

Additional Identifiers

Rule ID: SV-38246r2_rule

Vulnerability ID: V-11973

Group Title: GEN000640

Expert Comments

CCIs tied to check.

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