Title

The Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating system must be configured so that when passwords are changed or new passwords are established, the new password must contain at least one lower-case character. (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 of several that determines 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.

Check Content

Note: The value to require a number of lower-case characters to be set is expressed as a negative number in "/etc/security/pwquality.conf". Check the value for "lcredit" in "/etc/security/pwquality.conf" with the following command: # grep lcredit /etc/security/pwquality.conf lcredit = -1 If the value of "lcredit" is not set to a negative value, this is a finding.

Fix Text

Configure the system to require at least one lower-case character when creating or changing a password. Add or modify the following line in "/etc/security/pwquality.conf": lcredit = -1

Additional Identifiers

Rule ID: SV-204408r603261_rule

Vulnerability ID: V-204408

Group Title: SRG-OS-000070-GPOS-00038

Expert Comments

CCIs tied to check.

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