Title

AIX must enforce password complexity by requiring that at least one lower-case character be used. (Cat I 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 determines 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.

Check Content

From the command prompt, run the following command to check the system default "minloweralpha" attribute value: # lssec -f /etc/security/user -s default -a minloweralpha default minloweralpha=1 If the "default minloweralpha" value is not set, or its value is less than "1", this is a finding. From the command prompt, run the following command to check "minloweralpha" attribute value for all accounts: # lsuser -a minloweralpha ALL root minloweralpha=1 user2 minloweralpha=2 user3 minloweralpha=1 If any user's "minloweralpha" value is less than "1", this is a finding.

Fix Text

From the command prompt, run the following command to set "minloweralpha=1" for the default stanza in "/etc/security/user": # chsec -f /etc/security/user -s default -a minloweralpha=1 For each user who has "minloweralpha=0" set its "minloweralpha" to "1" by running the following command from command prompt: # chsec -f /etc/security/user -s [user_name] -a minloweralpha=1

Additional Identifiers

Rule ID: SV-215218r1009536_rule

Vulnerability ID: V-215218

Group Title: SRG-OS-000070-GPOS-00038

Expert Comments

CCIs tied to check.

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