The OL 8 "pam_unix.so" module must be configured in the password-auth file to use a FIPS 140-2 approved cryptographic hashing algorithm for system authentication.

Overview

Finding ID	Version	Rule ID	IA Controls	Severity
V-248544	OL08-00-010160	SV-248544r818611_rule		Medium

Description
Unapproved mechanisms that are used for authentication to the cryptographic module are not verified and therefore cannot be relied on to provide confidentiality or integrity, and DoD data may be compromised. OL 8 systems using encryption are required to use FIPS-compliant mechanisms for authenticating to cryptographic modules. FIPS 140-2 is the current standard for validating that mechanisms used to access cryptographic modules use authentication that meets DoD requirements. This allows for Security Levels 1, 2, 3, or 4 for use on a general-purpose computing system.

Description

Unapproved mechanisms that are used for authentication to the cryptographic module are not verified and therefore cannot be relied on to provide confidentiality or integrity, and DoD data may be compromised. OL 8 systems using encryption are required to use FIPS-compliant mechanisms for authenticating to cryptographic modules. FIPS 140-2 is the current standard for validating that mechanisms used to access cryptographic modules use authentication that meets DoD requirements. This allows for Security Levels 1, 2, 3, or 4 for use on a general-purpose computing system.

STIG	Date
Oracle Linux 8 Security Technical Implementation Guide	2024-02-19

Details

Check Text ( C-51978r818609_chk )
Verify that the "pam_unix.so" module is configured to use sha512 in "/etc/pam.d/password-auth" with the following command: $ sudo grep password /etc/pam.d/password-auth \| grep pam_unix password sufficient pam_unix.so sha512 If "sha512" is missing, or is commented out, this is a finding.

Fix Text (F-51932r818610_fix)
Configure OL 8 to use a FIPS 140-2 approved cryptographic hashing algorithm for system authentication. Edit/modify the following line in the "/etc/pam.d/password-auth" file to include the sha512 option for pam_unix.so: password sufficient pam_unix.so sha512