Title

CA-ACF2 PWPHRASE GSO record must be properly defined. (Cat II 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 in determining 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. Special characters are those characters that are not alphanumeric. Examples include: ~ ! @ # $ % ^ *.

Check Content

From the ISPF Command Screen enter: ACF SET CONTROL(GSO) LIST PWPHRASE If the following options are in effect, this is not a finding. If any of the options deviate from the following, this is a finding. The GSO PWPHRASE record will conform to the following requirements. ALPHA(1 or greater) HISTORY(10-32) MAXDAYS(1-60) MINDAYS(1) MINLEN(15-100) NUMERIC(1 or greater) SPECIAL(1 or greater) SPECLIST(character list) WARNDAYS(1-10) Note: The SPECLIST special characters will be specified at a minimum. Characters will conform to the allowable list defined in CA ACF2 for z/OS Administration Guide.

Fix Text

Configure the PWPHRASE GSO values to be set to the values specified. Ensure the GSO PWPHRASE record values conform to the following requirements: ALPHA(1 or greater) HISTORY(10-32) MAXDAYS(1-60) MINDAYS(1) MINLEN(15-100) NUMERIC(1 or greater) SPECIAL(1 or greater) SPECLIST(character list) WARNDAYS(1-10) Note: The SPECLIST special characters will be specified at a minimum. Characters will conform to the allowable list defined in CA ACF2 for z/OS Administration Guide. Example: SET C(GSO) INSERT PWPHRASE NOALLOW ALPHA(1) HISTORY(10) MAXDAYS(60) MINDAYS(1) MINLEN(15) NUMERIC(1) SPECIAL(1) SPECLIST(& * =) WARNDAYS(10) F ACF2,REFRESH(PWPHRASE)

Additional Identifiers

Rule ID: SV-223499r695422_rule

Vulnerability ID: V-223499

Group Title: SRG-OS-000266-GPOS-00101

Expert Comments

CCIs tied to check.

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