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RHEL 8 must enforce password complexity by requiring that at least one numeric character be used.


Overview

Finding ID Version Rule ID IA Controls Severity
V-230359 RHEL-08-020130 SV-230359r858775_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. Password complexity is one factor of several that determines how long it takes to crack a password. The more complex the password, the greater the number of possible combinations that need to be tested before the password is compromised. RHEL 8 utilizes "pwquality" as a mechanism to enforce password complexity. Note that in order to require numeric characters, without degrading the minlen value, the credit value must be expressed as a negative number in "/etc/security/pwquality.conf".
STIG Date
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 Security Technical Implementation Guide 2022-12-06

Details

Check Text ( C-33028r833316_chk )
Verify the value for "dcredit" with the following command:

$ sudo grep -r dcredit /etc/security/pwquality.conf*

/etc/security/pwquality.conf:dcredit = -1

If the value of "dcredit" is a positive number or is commented out, this is a finding.
If conflicting results are returned, this is a finding.
Fix Text (F-33003r858774_fix)
Configure the operating system to enforce password complexity by requiring that at least one numeric character be used by setting the "dcredit" option.

Add the following line to /etc/security/pwquality.conf (or modify the line to have the required value):

dcredit = -1

Remove any configurations that conflict with the above value.