Navigate

Check: RHEL-09-611025

RHEL 9 STIG: RHEL-09-611025 (in versions v1 r3 through v1 r1)

Title

RHEL 9 must not allow blank or null passwords. (Cat I impact)

Discussion

If an account has an empty password, anyone could log in and run commands with the privileges of that account. Accounts with empty passwords should never be used in operational environments.

Check Content

Verify that null passwords cannot be used with the following command: $ sudo grep -i nullok /etc/pam.d/system-auth /etc/pam.d/password-auth If output is produced, this is a finding.

Fix Text

Remove any instances of the "nullok" option in the "/etc/pam.d/password-auth" and "/etc/pam.d/system-auth" files to prevent logons with empty passwords. Note: Manual changes to the listed file may be overwritten by the "authselect" program.

Additional Identifiers

Rule ID: SV-258094r926269_rule

Vulnerability ID: V-258094

Group Title: SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227

Expert Comments

Expert comments are only available to logged-in users.

CCIs

CCIs tied to check.

Number	Definition
CCI-000366	The organization implements the security configuration settings.

Controls

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

Number	Title
CM-6	Configuration Settings