RHEL 9 must require the change of at least four character classes when passwords are changed.

Overview

Finding ID	Version	Rule ID	IA Controls	Severity
V-258115	RHEL-09-611130	SV-258115r997100_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-61856r926330_chk )
Verify the value of the "minclass" option in "/etc/security/pwquality.conf" with the following command: $ grep minclass /etc/security/pwquality.conf minclass = 4 If the value of "minclass" is set to less than "4", or is commented out, this is a finding.

Fix Text (F-61780r926331_fix)
Configure RHEL 9 to require the change of at least four character classes when passwords are changed by setting the "minclass" option. Add the following line to "/etc/security/pwquality.conf" (or modify the line to have the required value): minclass = 4