The system must require administrator action to unlock an account locked by excessive failed login attempts.

Overview

Finding ID	Version	Rule ID	IA Controls	Severity
V-218081	RHEL-06-000356	SV-218081r505923_rule		Medium

Description
Locking out user accounts after a number of incorrect attempts prevents direct password guessing attacks. Ensuring that an administrator is involved in unlocking locked accounts draws appropriate attention to such situations.

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

Details

Check Text ( C-19562r499432_chk )
To ensure the failed password attempt policy is configured correctly, run the following command: # grep pam_faillock /etc/pam.d/system-auth /etc/pam.d/password-auth If the "unlock_time" parameter is set to a value other than "0", "never", or less than "900" on "auth" lines with the "pam_faillock.so" module, or is missing from these lines, this is a finding. Note: The maximum configurable value for "unlock_time" is "604800".

Check Text ( C-19562r499432_chk )

To ensure the failed password attempt policy is configured correctly, run the following command:

# grep pam_faillock /etc/pam.d/system-auth /etc/pam.d/password-auth

If the "unlock_time" parameter is set to a value other than "0", "never", or less than "900" on "auth" lines with the "pam_faillock.so" module, or is missing from these lines, this is a finding.

Note: The maximum configurable value for "unlock_time" is "604800".

Fix Text (F-19560r499433_fix)
To configure the system to lock out accounts after a number of incorrect logon attempts and require an administrator to unlock the account using "pam_faillock.so", modify the content of both "/etc/pam.d/system-auth" and "/etc/pam.d/password-auth" as follows: Add the following line immediately before the "pam_unix.so" statement in the "AUTH" section: auth required pam_faillock.so preauth silent deny=3 unlock_time=900 fail_interval=900 Add the following line immediately after the "pam_unix.so" statement in the "AUTH" section: auth [default=die] pam_faillock.so authfail deny=3 unlock_time=900 fail_interval=900 Add the following line immediately before the "pam_unix.so" statement in the "ACCOUNT" section: account required pam_faillock.so Note that any updates made to "/etc/pam.d/system-auth" and "/etc/pam.d/password-auth" may be overwritten by the "authconfig" program. The "authconfig" program should not be used.

Fix Text (F-19560r499433_fix)

To configure the system to lock out accounts after a number of incorrect logon attempts and require an administrator to unlock the account using "pam_faillock.so", modify the content of both "/etc/pam.d/system-auth" and "/etc/pam.d/password-auth" as follows:

Add the following line immediately before the "pam_unix.so" statement in the "AUTH" section:

auth required pam_faillock.so preauth silent deny=3 unlock_time=900 fail_interval=900

Add the following line immediately after the "pam_unix.so" statement in the "AUTH" section:

auth [default=die] pam_faillock.so authfail deny=3 unlock_time=900 fail_interval=900

Add the following line immediately before the "pam_unix.so" statement in the "ACCOUNT" section:

account required pam_faillock.so

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