Title

The system must require passwords to 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

Check the MINSPECIAL setting. # grep MINSPECIAL /etc/default/passwd If the MINSPECIAL setting is less than 1, this is a finding.

Fix Text

Edit /etc/default/passwd and set MINSPECIAL to 1.

Additional Identifiers

Rule ID:

Vulnerability ID: V-11973

Group Title:

Expert Comments

CCIs tied to check.

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