Title

The Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating system must be configured so that /etc/pam.d/passwd implements /etc/pam.d/system-auth when changing passwords. (Cat II impact)

Discussion

Pluggable authentication modules (PAM) allow for a modular approach to integrating authentication methods. PAM operates in a top-down processing model and if the modules are not listed in the correct order, an important security function could be bypassed if stack entries are not centralized.

Check Content

Verify that /etc/pam.d/passwd is configured to use /etc/pam.d/system-auth when changing passwords: # cat /etc/pam.d/passwd | grep -i substack | grep -i system-auth password substack system-auth If no results are returned, the line is commented out, this is a finding.

Fix Text

Configure PAM to utilize /etc/pam.d/system-auth when changing passwords. Add the following line to "/etc/pam.d/passwd" (or modify the line to have the required value): password substack system-auth

Additional Identifiers

Rule ID: SV-204405r603261_rule

Vulnerability ID: V-204405

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

Expert Comments

CCIs tied to check.

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