Title

AIX must require passwords to contain no more than three consecutive repeating characters. (Cat II impact)

Discussion

Passwords with excessive repeating characters may be more vulnerable to password-guessing attacks.

Check Content

Check system default for "maxrepeats" attribute: # lssec -f /etc/security/user -s default -a maxrepeats default maxrepeats=3 If the default "maxrepeats" is greater than "3", or its value is not set, or its value is set to "0", this is a finding. Check the "maxrepeats" setting for all users using: # lsuser -a maxrepeats ALL The above command should yield the following output: root maxrepeats=3 daemon maxrepeats=3 bin maxrepeats=3 sys maxrepeats=3 If the "maxrepeats" setting for any user is greater than "3", or its value is set to "0", this is a finding.

Fix Text

Use the "chsec" command to set "maxrepeats" to "3" for the default stanza: # chsec -f /etc/security/user -s default -a maxrepeats=3 Use the "chsec" command to set "maxrepeats" to "3" for all the users who have "maxrepeats" values that are greater than "3", or its value is set to "0": # chuser maxrepeats=3 [user_name]

Additional Identifiers

Rule ID: SV-215232r991589_rule

Vulnerability ID: V-215232

Group Title: SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227

Expert Comments

CCIs tied to check.

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