Passwords must have a minimum of 15-characters.

Overview

Finding ID	Version	Rule ID	IA Controls	Severity
V-214962	UBTU-16-010240	SV-214962r508033_rule		Medium

Description
The shorter the password, the lower the number of possible combinations that need to be tested before the password is compromised. 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. Use of more characters in a password helps to exponentially increase the time and/or resources required to compromise the password.

Description

The shorter the password, the lower the number of possible combinations that need to be tested before the password is compromised. 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. Use of more characters in a password helps to exponentially increase the time and/or resources required to compromise the password.

STIG	Date
Canonical Ubuntu 16.04 LTS Security Technical Implementation Guide	2020-09-03

Details

Check Text ( C-16161r284754_chk )
Verify that the Ubuntu operating system enforces a minimum "15" character password length. Determine if the field "minlen" is set in the "/etc/security/pwquality.conf" or "/etc/pwquality.conf.d/.conf" files with the following command: # grep -i minlen /etc/security/pwquality.conf /etc/pwquality.conf.d/.conf minlen=15 If "minlen" parameter value is not "15" or higher, or is commented out, this is a finding.

Check Text ( C-16161r284754_chk )

Verify that the Ubuntu operating system enforces a minimum "15" character password length.

Determine if the field "minlen" is set in the "/etc/security/pwquality.conf" or "/etc/pwquality.conf.d/*.conf" files with the following command:

# grep -i minlen /etc/security/pwquality.conf /etc/pwquality.conf.d/*.conf
minlen=15

If "minlen" parameter value is not "15" or higher, or is commented out, this is a finding.

Fix Text (F-16159r284755_fix)
Configure the Ubuntu operating system to enforce a minimum 15-character password length. Add or update the following line in the "/etc/security/pwquality.conf" file or a configuration file in the /etc/pwquality.conf.d/ directory to contain the "minlen" parameter: minlen=15