RHEL 8 must ensure the password complexity module is enabled in the password-auth file.

Overview

Finding ID	Version	Rule ID	IA Controls	Severity
V-230356	RHEL-08-020100	SV-230356r809379_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. "pwquality" enforces complex password construction configuration and has the ability to limit brute-force attacks on the system. RHEL 8 utilizes "pwquality" as a mechanism to enforce password complexity. This is set in both: /etc/pam.d/password-auth /etc/pam.d/system-auth

STIG	Date
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 Security Technical Implementation Guide	2022-09-07

Details

Check Text ( C-33025r809285_chk )
Verify the operating system uses "pwquality" to enforce the password complexity rules. Check for the use of "pwquality" in the password-auth file with the following command: $ sudo cat /etc/pam.d/password-auth | grep pam_pwquality password required pam_pwquality.so If the command does not return a line containing the value "pam_pwquality.so", or the line is commented out, this is a finding.

Fix Text (F-33000r809286_fix)
Configure the operating system to use "pwquality" to enforce password complexity rules. Add the following line to the "/etc/pam.d/password-auth" file (or modify the line to have the required value): password required pam_pwquality.so