The system must use a FIPS 140-2 approved cryptographic hashing algorithm for generating account password hashes (system-auth).

Overview

Finding ID	Version	Rule ID	IA Controls	Severity
V-38574	RHEL-06-000062	SV-50375r2_rule		Medium

Description
Using a stronger hashing algorithm makes password cracking attacks more difficult.

STIG	Date
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 Security Technical Implementation Guide	2016-06-05

Details

Check Text ( C-46132r3_chk )
Inspect the "password" section of "/etc/pam.d/system-auth", "/etc/pam.d/system-auth-ac", and other files in "/etc/pam.d" and ensure that the "pam_unix.so" module includes the argument "sha512". $ grep password /etc/pam.d/* \| grep pam_unix.so \| grep sha512 If it does not, this is a finding.

Fix Text (F-43522r2_fix)
In "/etc/pam.d/system-auth" and "/etc/pam.d/system-auth-ac", among potentially other files, the "password" section of the files control which PAM modules execute during a password change. Set the "pam_unix.so" module in the "password" section to include the argument "sha512", as shown below: password sufficient pam_unix.so sha512 [other arguments...] This will help ensure when local users change their passwords, hashes for the new passwords will be generated using the SHA-512 algorithm. This is the default. Note that any updates made to "/etc/pam.d/system-auth" will be overwritten by the "authconfig" program. The "authconfig" program should not be used.

Fix Text (F-43522r2_fix)

In "/etc/pam.d/system-auth" and "/etc/pam.d/system-auth-ac", among potentially other files, the "password" section of the files control which PAM modules execute during a password change. Set the "pam_unix.so" module in the "password" section to include the argument "sha512", as shown below:

password sufficient pam_unix.so sha512 [other arguments...]

This will help ensure when local users change their passwords, hashes for the new passwords will be generated using the SHA-512 algorithm. This is the default.

Note that any updates made to "/etc/pam.d/system-auth" will be overwritten by the "authconfig" program. The "authconfig" program should not be used.