Passwords must have a minimum of 15-characters.

Overview

Finding ID	Version	Rule ID	IA Controls	Severity
V-214962	UBTU-16-010240	SV-214962r610931_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.

STIG	Date
Canonical Ubuntu 16.04 LTS Security Technical Implementation Guide	2020-12-09

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.

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