The Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating system must be configured so that when passwords are changed a minimum of eight of the total number of characters must be changed.

Overview

Finding ID	Version	Rule ID	IA Controls	Severity
V-71911	RHEL-07-010160	SV-86535r2_rule		Medium

Description
Use of a complex password helps to increase the time and resources required to compromise the password. Password complexity, or strength, is a measure of the effectiveness of a password in resisting attempts at guessing and brute-force attacks. Password complexity is one factor of several that determines how long it takes to crack a password. The more complex the password, the greater the number of possible combinations that need to be tested before the password is compromised.

Description

Use of a complex password helps to increase the time and resources required to compromise the password. Password complexity, or strength, is a measure of the effectiveness of a password in resisting attempts at guessing and brute-force attacks. Password complexity is one factor of several that determines how long it takes to crack a password. The more complex the password, the greater the number of possible combinations that need to be tested before the password is compromised.

STIG	Date
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Security Technical Implementation Guide	2018-11-28

Details

Check Text ( C-72143r1_chk )
The "difok" option sets the number of characters in a password that must not be present in the old password. Check for the value of the "difok" option in "/etc/security/pwquality.conf" with the following command: # grep difok /etc/security/pwquality.conf difok = 8 If the value of "difok" is set to less than "8", this is a finding.

Fix Text (F-78263r1_fix)
Configure the operating system to require the change of at least eight of the total number of characters when passwords are changed by setting the "difok" option. Add the following line to "/etc/security/pwquality.conf" (or modify the line to have the required value): difok = 8