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RHEL 8 passwords must have a minimum of 15 characters.


Overview

Finding ID Version Rule ID IA Controls Severity
V-230369 RHEL-08-020230 SV-230369r627750_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 increase exponentially the time and/or resources required to compromise the password. RHEL 8 utilizes "pwquality" as a mechanism to enforce password complexity. Configurations are set in the "etc/security/pwquality.conf" file. The "minlen", sometimes noted as minimum length, acts as a "score" of complexity based on the credit components of the "pwquality" module. By setting the credit components to a negative value, not only will those components be required, they will not count towards the total "score" of "minlen". This will enable "minlen" to require a 15-character minimum. The DoD minimum password requirement is 15 characters.
STIG Date
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 Security Technical Implementation Guide 2021-03-04

Details

Check Text ( C-33038r567853_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:

$ sudo 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-33013r567854_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