The system must require passwords to contain no more than three consecutive repeating characters.

Overview

Finding ID	Version	Rule ID	IA Controls	Severity
V-38693	RHEL-06-000299	SV-50494r1_rule		Low

Description
Passwords with excessive repeating characters may be more vulnerable to password-guessing attacks.

STIG	Date
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 Security Technical Implementation Guide	2014-06-11

Details

Check Text ( C-46255r1_chk )
To check the maximum value for consecutive repeating characters, run the following command: $ grep pam_cracklib /etc/pam.d/system-auth Look for the value of the "maxrepeat" parameter. The DoD requirement is 3. If maxrepeat is not found or not set to the required value, this is a finding.

Fix Text (F-43642r1_fix)
The pam_cracklib module's "maxrepeat" parameter controls requirements for consecutive repeating characters. Edit the "/etc/pam.d/system-auth" file to include the following line prior to the "password include system-auth-ac" line: password required pam_cracklib.so maxrepeat=3