Title

RHEL 8 must prevent the use of dictionary words for passwords. (Cat II impact)

Discussion

If RHEL 8 allows the user to select passwords based on dictionary words, this increases the chances of password compromise by increasing the opportunity for successful guesses, and brute-force attacks.

Check Content

Verify RHEL 8 prevents the use of dictionary words for passwords. Determine if the field "dictcheck" is set with the following command: $ sudo grep -r dictcheck /etc/security/pwquality.conf* /etc/security/pwquality.conf:dictcheck=1 If the "dictcheck" parameter is not set to "1", or is commented out, this is a finding. If conflicting results are returned, this is a finding.

Fix Text

Configure RHEL 8 to prevent the use of dictionary words for passwords. Add or update the following line in the "/etc/security/pwquality.conf" file or a configuration file in the /etc/pwquality.conf.d/ directory to contain the "dictcheck" parameter: dictcheck=1 Remove any configurations that conflict with the above value.

Additional Identifiers

Rule ID: SV-230377r1017188_rule

Vulnerability ID: V-230377

Group Title: SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00225

Expert Comments

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