UCF STIG Viewer Logo
Changes are coming to https://stigviewer.com. Take our survey to help us understand your usage and how we can better serve you in the future.
Take Survey

The system must prohibit the reuse of passwords within five iterations.


Overview

Finding ID Version Rule ID IA Controls Severity
V-38658 RHEL-06-000274 SV-50459r5_rule Medium
Description
Preventing reuse of previous passwords helps ensure that a compromised password is not reused by a user.
STIG Date
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 Security Technical Implementation Guide 2017-05-19

Details

Check Text ( C-46219r5_chk )
To verify the password reuse setting is compliant, run the following command:

# grep remember /etc/pam.d/system-auth

The output must be a line beginning with "password required pam_pwhistory.so" or "password requisite pam_pwhistory.so" and end with "remember=5".

If the line is commented out, the line does not contain the specified elements, or the value for "remember" is less than 5, this is a finding.
Fix Text (F-43608r5_fix)
Do not allow users to reuse recent passwords. This can be accomplished by using the "remember" option for the "pam_pwhistory" PAM module. In the file "/etc/pam.d/system-auth", append "remember=5" to the line which refers to the "pam_pwhistory.so" module, as shown:

password required pam_pwhistory.so [existing_options] remember=5

or

password requisite pam_pwhistory.so [existing_options] remember=5

The DoD requirement is five passwords.