Title

RHEL 9 must require the change of at least four character classes 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 that RHEL 9 requires passwords to contain at least four character classes. $ grep minclass /etc/security/pwquality.conf /etc/security/pwquality.conf.d/*.conf minclass = 4 If the value of "minclass" is set to less than "4", or is commented out, this is a finding.

Fix Text

Configure RHEL 9 to require the change of at least four character classes when passwords are changed by setting the "minclass" option. Add or update the following line in the "/etc/security/pwquality.conf" file or a configuration file in the "/etc/security/pwquality.conf.d/" directory to contain the "minclass" parameter: minclass = 4

Additional Identifiers

Rule ID: SV-258115r1045238_rule

Vulnerability ID: V-258115

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

Expert Comments

CCIs tied to check.

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