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The OS X system must enforce a minimum 15-character password length.


Overview

Finding ID Version Rule ID IA Controls Severity
V-76079 AOSX-12-000590 SV-90767r1_rule Medium
Description
The minimum password length must be set to 15 characters. Password complexity, or strength, is a measure of the effectiveness of a password in resisting attempts at guessing and brute-force attacks. Password length is one factor of several that helps to determine strength and how long it takes to crack a password. The use of more characters in a password helps to exponentially increase the time and/or resources required to compromise the password.
STIG Date
Apple OS X 10.12 Security Technical Implementation Guide 2018-12-24

Details

Check Text ( C-75763r1_chk )
To check the currently applied policies for passwords and accounts, use the following command:

/usr/bin/sudo /usr/sbin/system_profiler SPConfigurationProfileDataType | /usr/bin/grep minLength

The parameter minLength should be "15".

If it is less than "15", this is a finding.
Fix Text (F-82717r1_fix)
This setting is enforced using the "Passcode Policy" configuration profile.

Note: Updates to password restrictions must be thoroughly evaluated in a test environment. Mistakes in configuration may block password change and local user creation operations, as well as lock out all local users, including administrators.