AIX must enforce password complexity by requiring that at least one lower-case character be used.

Overview

Finding ID	Version	Rule ID	IA Controls	Severity
V-91283	AIX7-00-001121	SV-101381r1_rule		High

Description
Use of a complex password helps to increase the time and resources required to compromise the password. Password complexity, or strength, is a measure of the effectiveness of a password in resisting attempts at guessing and brute-force attacks. Password complexity is one factor of several that determines how long it takes to crack a password. The more complex the password, the greater the number of possible combinations that need to be tested before the password is compromised.

Description

Use of a complex password helps to increase the time and resources required to compromise the password. Password complexity, or strength, is a measure of the effectiveness of a password in resisting attempts at guessing and brute-force attacks. Password complexity is one factor of several that determines how long it takes to crack a password. The more complex the password, the greater the number of possible combinations that need to be tested before the password is compromised.

STIG	Date
IBM AIX 7.x Security Technical Implementation Guide	2020-02-24

Details

Check Text ( C-90437r1_chk )
From the command prompt, run the following command to check the system default "minloweralpha" attribute value: # lssec -f /etc/security/user -s default -a minloweralpha default minloweralpha=1 If the "default minloweralpha" value is not set, or its value is less than "1", this is a finding. From the command prompt, run the following command to check "minloweralpha" attribute value for all accounts: # lsuser -a minloweralpha ALL root minloweralpha=1 user2 minloweralpha=2 user3 minloweralpha=1 If any user's "minloweralpha" value is less than "1", this is a finding.

Check Text ( C-90437r1_chk )

From the command prompt, run the following command to check the system default "minloweralpha" attribute value:
# lssec -f /etc/security/user -s default -a minloweralpha
default minloweralpha=1

If the "default minloweralpha" value is not set, or its value is less than "1", this is a finding.

From the command prompt, run the following command to check "minloweralpha" attribute value for all accounts:
# lsuser -a minloweralpha ALL
root minloweralpha=1
user2 minloweralpha=2
user3 minloweralpha=1

If any user's "minloweralpha" value is less than "1", this is a finding.

Fix Text (F-97481r1_fix)
From the command prompt, run the following command to set "minloweralpha=1" for the default stanza in "/etc/security/user": # chsec -f /etc/security/user -s default -a minloweralpha=1 For each user who has "minloweralpha=0" set its "minloweralpha" to "1" by running the following command from command prompt: # chsec -f /etc/security/user -s [user_name] -a minloweralpha=1