The Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating system must be configured so that user and group account administration utilities are configured to store only encrypted representations of passwords.

Overview

Finding ID	Version	Rule ID	IA Controls	Severity
V-71923	RHEL-07-010220	SV-86547r3_rule		Medium

Description
Passwords need to be protected at all times, and encryption is the standard method for protecting passwords. If passwords are not encrypted, they can be plainly read (i.e., clear text) and easily compromised. Passwords encrypted with a weak algorithm are no more protected than if they are kept in plain text.

STIG	Date
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Security Technical Implementation Guide	2020-05-15

Details

Check Text ( C-72155r3_chk )
Verify the user and group account administration utilities are configured to store only encrypted representations of passwords. The strength of encryption that must be used to hash passwords for all accounts is "SHA512". Check that the system is configured to create "SHA512" hashed passwords with the following command: # grep -i sha512 /etc/libuser.conf crypt_style = sha512 If the "crypt_style" variable is not set to "sha512", is not in the defaults section, is commented out, or does not exist, this is a finding.

Check Text ( C-72155r3_chk )

Verify the user and group account administration utilities are configured to store only encrypted representations of passwords. The strength of encryption that must be used to hash passwords for all accounts is "SHA512".

Check that the system is configured to create "SHA512" hashed passwords with the following command:

# grep -i sha512 /etc/libuser.conf

crypt_style = sha512

If the "crypt_style" variable is not set to "sha512", is not in the defaults section, is commented out, or does not exist, this is a finding.

Fix Text (F-78275r1_fix)
Configure the operating system to store only SHA512 encrypted representations of passwords. Add or update the following line in "/etc/libuser.conf" in the [defaults] section: crypt_style = sha512