If multifactor authentication is not supported and passwords must be used, the CCisco IOS XE router must require that when a password is changed, the characters are changed in at least eight of the positions within the password.

Overview

Finding ID	Version	Rule ID	IA Controls	Severity
V-74021	CISR-ND-000061	SV-88695r2_rule		Medium

Description

If the application allows the user to consecutively reuse extensive portions of passwords, this increases the chances of password compromise by increasing the window of opportunity for attempts at guessing and brute-force attacks. The number of changed characters refers to the number of changes required with respect to the total number of positions in the current password. In other words, characters may be the same within the two passwords; however, the positions of the like characters must be different.

STIG	Date
Cisco IOS XE Release 3 NDM Security Technical Implementation Guide	2018-12-20

Details

Check Text ( C-74111r3_chk )
Verify that the Cisco IOS XE router is configured to use complex passwords. The configuration should look similar to the example below: aaa common-criteria policy PASSWORD_POLICY min-length 15 numeric-count 1 upper-case 1 lower-case 1 special-case 1 char-changes 8 If the use of complex passwords is not configured, this is a finding.

Fix Text (F-80563r2_fix)
Use the following commands to configure password complexity: aaa common-criteria policy PASSWORD_POLICY min-length 15 numeric-count 1 upper-case 1 lower-case 1 special-case 1 char-changes 8