Title

The Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating system must be configured so that when passwords are changed or new passwords are established, pwquality must 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. "pwquality" enforces complex password construction configuration and has the ability to limit brute-force attacks on the system.

Check Content

Verify the operating system uses "pwquality" to enforce the password complexity rules. Check for the use of "pwquality" with the following command: # cat /etc/pam.d/system-auth | grep pam_pwquality password requisite pam_pwquality.so retry=3 If the command does not return an uncommented line containing the value "pam_pwquality.so" as shown, this is a finding. If the value of "retry" is set to "0" or greater than "3", this is a finding.

Fix Text

Configure the operating system to use "pwquality" to enforce password complexity rules. Add the following line to "/etc/pam.d/system-auth" (or modify the line to have the required value): password requisite pam_pwquality.so retry=3 Note: The value of "retry" should be between "1" and "3".

Additional Identifiers

Rule ID: SV-204406r902704_rule

Vulnerability ID: V-204406

Group Title: SRG-OS-000069-GPOS-00037

Expert Comments

CCIs tied to check.

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