Title

RHEL 9 must require the maximum number of repeating characters be limited to three when passwords are changed. (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 a password, the greater the number of possible combinations that need to be tested before the password is compromised.

Check Content

Verify the value of the "maxrepeat" option in "/etc/security/pwquality.conf" with the following command: $ grep maxrepeat /etc/security/pwquality.conf maxrepeat = 3 If the value of "maxrepeat" is set to more than "3", or is commented out, this is a finding.

Fix Text

Configure RHEL 9 to require the change of the number of repeating consecutive characters when passwords are changed by setting the "maxrepeat" option. Add the following line to "/etc/security/pwquality.conf" (or modify the line to have the required value): maxrepeat = 3

Additional Identifiers

Rule ID: SV-258114r926329_rule

Vulnerability ID: V-258114

Group Title: SRG-OS-000072-GPOS-00040

Expert Comments

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