OL 8 systems, versions 8.2 and above, must automatically lock an account when three unsuccessful logon attempts occur.

Overview

Finding ID	Version	Rule ID	IA Controls	Severity
V-248653	OL08-00-020011	SV-248653r958388_rule		Medium

Description
By limiting the number of failed logon attempts, the risk of unauthorized system access via user password guessing, otherwise known as brute-force attacks, is reduced. Limits are imposed by locking the account. In OL 8.2, the "/etc/security/faillock.conf" file was incorporated to centralize the configuration of the "pam_faillock.so" module. Also introduced is a "local_users_only" option that will only track failed user authentication attempts for local users in "/etc/passwd" and ignore centralized (AD, IdM, LDAP, etc.) users to allow the centralized platform to solely manage user lockout. From "faillock.conf" man pages: Note that the default directory that "pam_faillock" uses is usually cleared on system boot so the access will be reenabled after system reboot. If that is undesirable, a different tally directory must be set with the "dir" option. Satisfies: SRG-OS-000021-GPOS-00005, SRG-OS-000329-GPOS-00128

Description

By limiting the number of failed logon attempts, the risk of unauthorized system access via user password guessing, otherwise known as brute-force attacks, is reduced. Limits are imposed by locking the account. In OL 8.2, the "/etc/security/faillock.conf" file was incorporated to centralize the configuration of the "pam_faillock.so" module. Also introduced is a "local_users_only" option that will only track failed user authentication attempts for local users in "/etc/passwd" and ignore centralized (AD, IdM, LDAP, etc.) users to allow the centralized platform to solely manage user lockout. From "faillock.conf" man pages: Note that the default directory that "pam_faillock" uses is usually cleared on system boot so the access will be reenabled after system reboot. If that is undesirable, a different tally directory must be set with the "dir" option. Satisfies: SRG-OS-000021-GPOS-00005, SRG-OS-000329-GPOS-00128

STIG	Date
Oracle Linux 8 Security Technical Implementation Guide	2024-06-04

Details

Check Text ( C-52087r779523_chk )
Note: This check applies to OL versions 8.2 or newer. If the system is OL version 8.0 or 8.1, this check is not applicable. Verify the "/etc/security/faillock.conf" file is configured to lock an account after three unsuccessful logon attempts: $ sudo grep 'deny =' /etc/security/faillock.conf deny = 3 If the "deny" option is not set to "3" or less (but not "0") or is missing or commented out, this is a finding.

Check Text ( C-52087r779523_chk )

Note: This check applies to OL versions 8.2 or newer. If the system is OL version 8.0 or 8.1, this check is not applicable.

Verify the "/etc/security/faillock.conf" file is configured to lock an account after three unsuccessful logon attempts:

$ sudo grep 'deny =' /etc/security/faillock.conf

deny = 3

If the "deny" option is not set to "3" or less (but not "0") or is missing or commented out, this is a finding.

Fix Text (F-52041r779524_fix)
Configure OL 8 to lock an account when three unsuccessful logon attempts occur. Add/modify the "/etc/security/faillock.conf" file to match the following line: deny = 3