The system must not allow accounts configured with blank or null passwords.

Overview

Finding ID	Version	Rule ID	IA Controls	Severity
V-208807	OL6-00-000030	SV-208807r809110_rule		High

Description
If an account has an empty password, anyone could log in and run commands with the privileges of that account. Accounts with empty passwords should never be used in operational environments.

STIG	Date
Oracle Linux 6 Security Technical Implementation Guide	2021-12-03

Details

Check Text ( C-9060r357401_chk )
To verify that null passwords cannot be used, run the following command: # grep nullok /etc/pam.d/system-auth /etc/pam.d/password-auth If this produces any output, it may be possible to log on to accounts with empty passwords. If null passwords can be used, this is a finding.

Fix Text (F-9060r357402_fix)
If an account is configured for password authentication but does not have an assigned password, it may be possible to log on to the account without authentication. Remove any instances of the "nullok" option in "/etc/pam.d/system-auth" and "/etc/pam.d/password-auth" to prevent logons with empty passwords.