The system must require at least four characters be changed between the old and new passwords during a password change.

Overview

Finding ID	Version	Rule ID	IA Controls	Severity
V-22306	GEN000750	SV-26324r1_rule	IAIA-1 IAIA-2	Medium

Description
To ensure password changes are effective in their goals, the system must ensure old and new passwords have significant differences. Without significant changes, new passwords may be easily guessed based on the value of a previously compromised password.

STIG	Date
Solaris 10 SPARC Security Technical Implementation Guide	2014-04-04

Details

Check Text ( C-27439r1_chk )
Check /etc/default/passwd to verify the MINDIFF setting. # grep MINDIFF /etc/default/passwd If the setting is not present, or is less than 4, this is a finding.

Fix Text (F-23479r1_fix)
Edit /etc/default/passwd and set or add a MINDIFF setting equal to or greater than 4.