The system must require passwords to contain at least one numeric character.

Overview

Finding ID	Version	Rule ID	IA Controls	Severity
V-217892	RHEL-06-000056	SV-217892r505923_rule		Low

Description
Requiring digits makes password guessing attacks more difficult by ensuring a larger search space.

STIG	Date
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 Security Technical Implementation Guide	2020-09-03

Details

Check Text ( C-19373r462373_chk )
To check how many digits are required in a password, run the following command: $ grep pam_cracklib /etc/pam.d/system-auth /etc/pam.d/password-auth Note: The "dcredit" parameter (as a negative number) will indicate how many digits are required. The DoD requires at least one digit in a password. This would appear as "dcredit=-1". If “dcredit” is not found or not set to the required value, this is a finding.

Check Text ( C-19373r462373_chk )

To check how many digits are required in a password, run the following command:

$ grep pam_cracklib /etc/pam.d/system-auth /etc/pam.d/password-auth

Note: The "dcredit" parameter (as a negative number) will indicate how many digits are required. The DoD requires at least one digit in a password. This would appear as "dcredit=-1".

If “dcredit” is not found or not set to the required value, this is a finding.

Fix Text (F-19371r462374_fix)
The pam_cracklib module's "dcredit" parameter controls requirements for usage of digits in a password. When set to a negative number, any password will be required to contain that many digits. When set to a positive number, pam_cracklib will grant +1 additional length credit for each digit. Edit /etc/pam.d/system-auth and /etc/pam.d/password-auth adding "dcredit=-1" after pam_cracklib.so to require use of a digit in passwords.

Fix Text (F-19371r462374_fix)

The pam_cracklib module's "dcredit" parameter controls requirements for usage of digits in a password. When set to a negative number, any password will be required to contain that many digits. When set to a positive number, pam_cracklib will grant +1 additional length credit for each digit.

Edit /etc/pam.d/system-auth and /etc/pam.d/password-auth adding "dcredit=-1" after pam_cracklib.so to require use of a digit in passwords.