Title

Ubuntu OS must enforce password complexity by requiring at least one special character be used. (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

Verify with the following command that Ubuntu OS enforces password complexity by requiring at least one special character be used: $ grep -i ocredit /etc/security/pwquality.conf ocredit = -1 If "ocredit" is greater than "-1", is commented out, or is missing, this is a finding.

Fix Text

Configure Ubuntu OS to enforce password complexity by requiring at least one special character be used. Add or modify the following line in the "/etc/security/pwquality.conf" file: ocredit = -1

Additional Identifiers

Rule ID: SV-275652r1148006_rule

Vulnerability ID: V-275652

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

Expert Comments

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