IBM AIX 7.x STIG Version Comparison

There are 4 differences between versions v2 r8 (July 26, 2023) (the "left" version) and v3 r1 (Oct. 24, 2024) (the "right" version).

Check AIX7-00-001127 was removed from the benchmark in the "right" version. The text below reflects the old wording.

This check's original form is available here.

Title

AIX must prohibit password reuse for a minimum of five generations.

Check Content

From the command prompt, run the following command to check the system default "histsize" attribute value: # lssec -f /etc/security/user -s default -a histsize default histsize=5 If the default "histsize" value is not set, or its value is less than "5", this is a finding. From the command prompt, run the following command to check "histsize" attribute value for all accounts: # lsuser -a histsize ALL root histsize=5 user1 histsize=5 user2 histsize=5 user3 histsize=6 If any user does not have "histsize" set, or its "histsize" value is less than "5", this is a finding.

Discussion

Password complexity, or strength, is a measure of the effectiveness of a password in resisting attempts at guessing and brute-force attacks. If the information system or application allows the user to consecutively reuse their password when that password has exceeded its defined lifetime, the end result is a password that is not changed as per policy requirements.

Fix

From the command prompt, run the following command to set "histsize=5" for the default stanza in "/etc/security/user": # chsec -f /etc/security/user -s default -a histsize=5 For each user who has "histsize" value less than "5", set its "histsize" to "5" by running the following command from command prompt: # chsec -f /etc/security/user -s [user_name] -a histsize=5