OL 8 must ensure a password complexity module is enabled.

Overview

Finding ID	Version	Rule ID	IA Controls	Severity
V-248686	OL08-00-020100	SV-248686r779624_rule		Medium

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. Use of "pwquality" enforces complex password construction configuration and has the ability to limit brute-force attacks on the system. OL 8 uses "pwquality" as a mechanism to enforce password complexity. This is set in both of the following: /etc/pam.d/password-auth /etc/pam.d/system-auth Note: The value of "retry" set in these configuration files should be between "1" and "3". Manual changes to the listed files may be overwritten by the "authselect" program. Satisfies: SRG-OS-000069-GPOS-00037, SRG-OS-000070-GPOS-00038

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. Use of "pwquality" enforces complex password construction configuration and has the ability to limit brute-force attacks on the system. OL 8 uses "pwquality" as a mechanism to enforce password complexity. This is set in both of the following: /etc/pam.d/password-auth /etc/pam.d/system-auth Note: The value of "retry" set in these configuration files should be between "1" and "3". Manual changes to the listed files may be overwritten by the "authselect" program. Satisfies: SRG-OS-000069-GPOS-00037, SRG-OS-000070-GPOS-00038

STIG	Date
Oracle Linux 8 Security Technical Implementation Guide	2021-07-21

Details

Check Text ( C-52120r779622_chk )
Verify the operating system uses "pwquality" to enforce the password complexity rules. Check for the use of "pwquality" with the following commands: $ sudo cat /etc/pam.d/password-auth \| grep pam_pwquality password required pam_pwquality.so retry=3 $ sudo cat /etc/pam.d/system-auth \| grep pam_pwquality password required pam_pwquality.so retry=3 If both commands do not return a line containing the value "pam_pwquality.so" or the line is commented out, this is a finding.

Check Text ( C-52120r779622_chk )

Verify the operating system uses "pwquality" to enforce the password complexity rules.

Check for the use of "pwquality" with the following commands:

$ sudo cat /etc/pam.d/password-auth | grep pam_pwquality

password required pam_pwquality.so retry=3

$ sudo cat /etc/pam.d/system-auth | grep pam_pwquality

password required pam_pwquality.so retry=3

If both commands do not return a line containing the value "pam_pwquality.so" or the line is commented out, this is a finding.

Fix Text (F-52074r779623_fix)
Configure OL 8 to use "pwquality" to enforce password complexity rules. Add the following line to both "/etc/pam.d/password-auth" and "/etc/pam.d/system-auth" (or modify the line to have the required value): password required pam_pwquality.so retry=3