RHEL 8 must prevent the use of dictionary words for passwords.

Overview

Finding ID	Version	Rule ID	IA Controls	Severity
V-230377	RHEL-08-020300	SV-230377r858789_rule		Medium

Description
If RHEL 8 allows the user to select passwords based on dictionary words, this increases the chances of password compromise by increasing the opportunity for successful guesses, and brute-force attacks.

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

Details

Check Text ( C-33046r833330_chk )
Verify RHEL 8 prevents the use of dictionary words for passwords. Determine if the field "dictcheck" is set with the following command: $ sudo grep -r dictcheck /etc/security/pwquality.conf* /etc/security/pwquality.conf:dictcheck=1 If the "dictcheck" parameter is not set to "1", or is commented out, this is a finding. If conflicting results are returned, this is a finding.

Fix Text (F-33021r858788_fix)
Configure RHEL 8 to prevent the use of dictionary words for passwords. Add or update the following line in the "/etc/security/pwquality.conf" file or a configuration file in the /etc/pwquality.conf.d/ directory to contain the "dictcheck" parameter: dictcheck=1 Remove any configurations that conflict with the above value.