OL 8 must require the change of at least four character classes when passwords are changed.

Overview

Finding ID	Version	Rule ID	IA Controls	Severity
V-248692	OL08-00-020160	SV-248692r858641_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. 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. OL 8 uses "pwquality" as a mechanism to enforce password complexity. The "minclass" option sets the minimum number of required classes of characters for the new password (digits, upper-case, lower-case, others).

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. OL 8 uses "pwquality" as a mechanism to enforce password complexity. The "minclass" option sets the minimum number of required classes of characters for the new password (digits, upper-case, lower-case, others).

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

Details

Check Text ( C-52126r833229_chk )
Verify the value of the "minclass" option in "/etc/security/pwquality.conf" or "/etc/security/pwquality.conf.d/.conf" files with the following command: $ sudo grep -r minclass /etc/security/pwquality.conf /etc/security/pwquality.conf:minclass = 4 If the value of "minclass" is set to less than "4" or is commented out, this is a finding. If conflicting results are returned, this is a finding.

Fix Text (F-52080r858640_fix)
Configure OL 8 to require the change of at least four character classes when passwords are changed by setting the "minclass" option. Add or update the following line in the "/etc/security/pwquality.conf" file or a configuration file in the "/etc/security/pwquality.conf.d/" directory: minclass = 4 Remove any configurations that conflict with the above value.