RHEL 9 password-auth must be configured to use a sufficient number of hashing rounds.

Overview

Finding ID	Version	Rule ID	IA Controls	Severity
V-258099	RHEL-09-611050	SV-258099r997085_rule		Medium

Description
Passwords need to be protected at all times, and encryption is the standard method for protecting passwords. If passwords are not encrypted, they can be plainly read (i.e., clear text) and easily compromised. Passwords that are encrypted with a weak algorithm are no more protected than if they are kept in plain text. Using more hashing rounds makes password cracking attacks more difficult. Satisfies: SRG-OS-000073-GPOS-00041, SRG-OS-000120-GPOS-00061

Description

Passwords need to be protected at all times, and encryption is the standard method for protecting passwords. If passwords are not encrypted, they can be plainly read (i.e., clear text) and easily compromised. Passwords that are encrypted with a weak algorithm are no more protected than if they are kept in plain text. Using more hashing rounds makes password cracking attacks more difficult. Satisfies: SRG-OS-000073-GPOS-00041, SRG-OS-000120-GPOS-00061

STIG	Date
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 Security Technical Implementation Guide	2024-06-04

Details

Check Text ( C-61840r926282_chk )
Verify the number of rounds for the password hashing algorithm is configured with the following command: $ sudo grep rounds /etc/pam.d/password-auth password sufficient pam_unix.so sha512 rounds=5000 If a matching line is not returned or "rounds" is less than "5000", this a finding.

Fix Text (F-61764r926283_fix)
Configure Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 to use 5000 hashing rounds for hashing passwords. Add or modify the following line in "/etc/pam.d/password-auth" and set "rounds" to "5000". password sufficient pam_unix.so sha512 rounds=5000