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

Overview

Finding ID	Version	Rule ID	IA Controls	Severity
V-251713	RHEL-08-020101	SV-251713r902740_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 uses "pwquality" as a mechanism to enforce password complexity. This is set in both: /etc/pam.d/password-auth /etc/pam.d/system-auth

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 uses "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	2024-02-19

Details

Check Text ( C-55150r902738_chk )
Verify the operating system uses "pwquality" to enforce the password complexity rules. Check for the use of "pwquality" in the system-auth file with the following command: $ sudo cat /etc/pam.d/system-auth \| grep pam_pwquality password requisite pam_pwquality.so If the command does not return a line containing the value "pam_pwquality.so" as shown, or the line is commented out, this is a finding.

Check Text ( C-55150r902738_chk )

Verify the operating system uses "pwquality" to enforce the password complexity rules.

Check for the use of "pwquality" in the system-auth file with the following command:

$ sudo cat /etc/pam.d/system-auth | grep pam_pwquality

password requisite pam_pwquality.so

If the command does not return a line containing the value "pam_pwquality.so" as shown, or the line is commented out, this is a finding.

Fix Text (F-55104r902739_fix)
Configure the operating system to use "pwquality" to enforce password complexity rules. Add the following line to the "/etc/pam.d/system-auth" file (or modify the line to have the required value): password requisite pam_pwquality.so