The Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating system must be configured so that passwords are a minimum of 15 characters in length.

Overview

Finding ID	Version	Rule ID	IA Controls	Severity
V-71935	RHEL-07-010280	SV-86559r2_rule		Medium

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

Description

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

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

Details

Check Text ( C-72167r1_chk )
Verify the operating system enforces a minimum 15-character password length. The "minlen" option sets the minimum number of characters in a new password. Check for the value of the "minlen" option in "/etc/security/pwquality.conf" with the following command: # grep minlen /etc/security/pwquality.conf minlen = 15 If the command does not return a "minlen" value of 15 or greater, this is a finding.

Check Text ( C-72167r1_chk )

Verify the operating system enforces a minimum 15-character password length. The "minlen" option sets the minimum number of characters in a new password.

Check for the value of the "minlen" option in "/etc/security/pwquality.conf" with the following command:

# grep minlen /etc/security/pwquality.conf
minlen = 15

If the command does not return a "minlen" value of 15 or greater, this is a finding.

Fix Text (F-78287r1_fix)
Configure operating system to enforce a minimum 15-character password length. Add the following line to "/etc/security/pwquality.conf" (or modify the line to have the required value): minlen = 15