RHEL 8 must ensure account lockouts persist.

Overview

Finding ID	Version	Rule ID	IA Controls	Severity
V-230338	RHEL-08-020016	SV-230338r627750_rule		Medium

Description
By limiting the number of failed logon attempts, the risk of unauthorized system access via user password guessing, otherwise known as brute-force attacks, is reduced. Limits are imposed by locking the account. RHEL 8 can utilize the "pam_faillock.so" for this purpose. Note that manual changes to the listed files may be overwritten by the "authselect" program. From "Pam_Faillock" man pages: Note that the default directory that "pam_faillock" uses is usually cleared on system boot so the access will be reenabled after system reboot. If that is undesirable a different tally directory must be set with the "dir" option. Satisfies: SRG-OS-000021-GPOS-00005, SRG-OS-000329-GPOS-00128

Description

By limiting the number of failed logon attempts, the risk of unauthorized system access via user password guessing, otherwise known as brute-force attacks, is reduced. Limits are imposed by locking the account. RHEL 8 can utilize the "pam_faillock.so" for this purpose. Note that manual changes to the listed files may be overwritten by the "authselect" program. From "Pam_Faillock" man pages: Note that the default directory that "pam_faillock" uses is usually cleared on system boot so the access will be reenabled after system reboot. If that is undesirable a different tally directory must be set with the "dir" option. Satisfies: SRG-OS-000021-GPOS-00005, SRG-OS-000329-GPOS-00128

STIG	Date
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 Security Technical Implementation Guide	2021-03-04

Details

Check Text ( C-33007r567760_chk )
Check that the faillock directory contents persists after a reboot with the following commands: Note: If the System Administrator demonstrates the use of an approved centralized account management method that locks an account after three unsuccessful logon attempts within a period of 15 minutes, this requirement is not applicable. Note: This check applies to RHEL versions 8.0 and 8.1, if the system is RHEL version 8.2 or newer, this check is not applicable. $ sudo grep pam_faillock.so /etc/pam.d/password-auth auth required pam_faillock.so preauth dir=/var/log/faillock silent audit deny=3 even_deny_root fail_interval=900 unlock_time=0 auth required pam_faillock.so authfail dir=/var/log/faillock unlock_time=0 account required pam_faillock.so If the "dir" option is not set to a non-default documented tally log directory on the "preauth" and "authfail" lines with the "pam_faillock.so" module, or is missing from these lines, this is a finding. $ sudo grep pam_faillock.so /etc/pam.d/system-auth auth required pam_faillock.so preauth dir=/var/log/faillock silent audit deny=3 even_deny_root fail_interval=900 unlock_time=0 auth required pam_faillock.so authfail dir=/var/log/faillock unlock_time=0 account required pam_faillock.so If the "dir" option is not set to a non-default documented tally log directory on the "preauth" and "authfail" lines with the "pam_faillock.so" module, or is missing from these lines, this is a finding.

Check Text ( C-33007r567760_chk )

Check that the faillock directory contents persists after a reboot with the following commands:

Note: If the System Administrator demonstrates the use of an approved centralized account management method that locks an account after three unsuccessful logon attempts within a period of 15 minutes, this requirement is not applicable.

Note: This check applies to RHEL versions 8.0 and 8.1, if the system is RHEL version 8.2 or newer, this check is not applicable.

$ sudo grep pam_faillock.so /etc/pam.d/password-auth

auth required pam_faillock.so preauth dir=/var/log/faillock silent audit deny=3 even_deny_root fail_interval=900 unlock_time=0
auth required pam_faillock.so authfail dir=/var/log/faillock unlock_time=0
account required pam_faillock.so

If the "dir" option is not set to a non-default documented tally log directory on the "preauth" and "authfail" lines with the "pam_faillock.so" module, or is missing from these lines, this is a finding.

$ sudo grep pam_faillock.so /etc/pam.d/system-auth

auth required pam_faillock.so preauth dir=/var/log/faillock silent audit deny=3 even_deny_root fail_interval=900 unlock_time=0
auth required pam_faillock.so authfail dir=/var/log/faillock unlock_time=0
account required pam_faillock.so

If the "dir" option is not set to a non-default documented tally log directory on the "preauth" and "authfail" lines with the "pam_faillock.so" module, or is missing from these lines, this is a finding.

Fix Text (F-32982r567761_fix)
Configure the operating system maintain the contents of the faillock directory after a reboot. Add/Modify the appropriate sections of the "/etc/pam.d/system-auth" and "/etc/pam.d/password-auth" files to match the following lines: Note: Using the default faillock directory of /var/run/faillock will result in the contents being cleared in the event of a reboot. auth required pam_faillock.so preauth dir=/var/log/faillock silent audit deny=3 even_deny_root fail_interval=900 unlock_time=0 auth required pam_faillock.so authfail dir=/var/log/faillock unlock_time=0 account required pam_faillock.so The "sssd" service must be restarted for the changes to take effect. To restart the "sssd" service, run the following command: $ sudo systemctl restart sssd.service

Fix Text (F-32982r567761_fix)

Configure the operating system maintain the contents of the faillock directory after a reboot.

Add/Modify the appropriate sections of the "/etc/pam.d/system-auth" and "/etc/pam.d/password-auth" files to match the following lines:

Note: Using the default faillock directory of /var/run/faillock will result in the contents being cleared in the event of a reboot.

auth required pam_faillock.so preauth dir=/var/log/faillock silent audit deny=3 even_deny_root fail_interval=900 unlock_time=0
auth required pam_faillock.so authfail dir=/var/log/faillock unlock_time=0
account required pam_faillock.so

The "sssd" service must be restarted for the changes to take effect. To restart the "sssd" service, run the following command:

$ sudo systemctl restart sssd.service