Splunk Enterprise must be configured to enforce a minimum 15-character password length.

Overview

Finding ID	Version	Rule ID	IA Controls	Severity
V-251684	SPLK-CL-000370	SV-251684r879601_rule		Low

Description
The shorter the password, the lower the number of possible combinations that need to be tested before the password is compromised. Password complexity, or strength, is a measure of the effectiveness of a password in resisting attempts at guessing and brute-force attacks. Password length is one factor of several that helps to determine strength and how long it takes to crack a password. The shorter the password, the lower the number of possible combinations that need to be tested before the password is compromised. Use of more characters in a password helps to exponentially increase the time and/or resources required to compromise the password. In most enterprise environments, this requirement is usually mitigated by a properly configured external authentication system, like LDAP. Splunk local authentication takes precedence over other forms of authentication, and cannot be disabled. The mitigation settings in this requirement apply in the event a local account is created.

Description

The shorter the password, the lower the number of possible combinations that need to be tested before the password is compromised. Password complexity, or strength, is a measure of the effectiveness of a password in resisting attempts at guessing and brute-force attacks. Password length is one factor of several that helps to determine strength and how long it takes to crack a password. The shorter the password, the lower the number of possible combinations that need to be tested before the password is compromised. Use of more characters in a password helps to exponentially increase the time and/or resources required to compromise the password. In most enterprise environments, this requirement is usually mitigated by a properly configured external authentication system, like LDAP. Splunk local authentication takes precedence over other forms of authentication, and cannot be disabled. The mitigation settings in this requirement apply in the event a local account is created.

STIG	Date
Splunk Enterprise 8.x for Linux Security Technical Implementation Guide	2023-09-18

Details

Check Text ( C-55122r819116_chk )
Examine the configuration. Navigate to the $SPLUNK_HOME/etc/system/local/ directory. View the authentication.conf file. If the authentication.conf file does not exist, this is a finding. If the "minPasswordLength" is missing or is configured to 14 or less, this is a finding.

Fix Text (F-55076r819117_fix)
If the authentication.conf file does not exist, copy the file from $SPLUNK_HOME/etc/system/default to the $SPLUNK_HOME/etc/system/local directory. Modify the following lines in the authentication.conf file under the [splunk_auth]: minPasswordLength = 15 or more