Title

The system must prevent the use of dictionary words for passwords. (Cat II impact)

Discussion

An easily guessable password provides an open door to any external or internal malicious intruder. Many computer compromises occur as the result of account name and password guessing. This is generally done by someone with an automated script that uses repeated logon attempts until the correct account and password pair is guessed. Utilities, such as cracklib, can be used to validate passwords are not dictionary words and meet other criteria during password changes.

Check Content

Check /etc/pam.d/common-password for pam_cracklib configuration. # grep pam_cracklib /etc/pam.d/common-password* If pam_cracklib is not present, this is a finding. Ensure the passwd command uses the common-password settings. # grep common-password /etc/pam.d/passwd If a line "password include common-password" is not found then the password checks in common-password will not be applied to new passwords, this is a finding.

Fix Text

Edit /etc/pam.d/common-password and configure pam_cracklib by adding a line such as "password required pam_cracklib.so"

Additional Identifiers

Rule ID: SV-44883r1_rule

Vulnerability ID: V-22307

Group Title: GEN000790

Expert Comments

CCIs tied to check.

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