RHEL 9 must require the maximum number of repeating characters of the same character class be limited to four when passwords are changed.

Overview

Finding ID	Version	Rule ID	IA Controls	Severity
V-258113	RHEL-09-611120	SV-258113r997098_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 a password, the greater the number of possible combinations that need to be tested before the password is compromised.

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 a password, the greater the number of possible combinations that need to be tested before the password is compromised.

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

Details

Check Text ( C-61854r926324_chk )
Verify the value of the "maxclassrepeat" option in "/etc/security/pwquality.conf" with the following command: $ grep maxclassrepeat /etc/security/pwquality.conf maxclassrepeat = 4 If the value of "maxclassrepeat" is set to "0", more than "4", or is commented out, this is a finding.

Fix Text (F-61778r926325_fix)
Configure RHEL 9 to require the change of the number of repeating characters of the same character class when passwords are changed by setting the "maxclassrepeat" option. Add the following line to "/etc/security/pwquality.conf" conf (or modify the line to have the required value): maxclassrepeat = 4