The system must prevent the use of dictionary words for passwords.

Overview

Finding ID	Version	Rule ID	IA Controls	Severity
V-22307	GEN000790	SV-25954r1_rule	IAIA-1 IAIA-2	Medium

Description
An easily guessable password provides an open door to any external or internal malicious intruder. Many computer compromises occur as the result of account name and password guessing. This is generally done by someone with an automated script using repeated logon attempts until the correct account and password pair is guessed. Utilities, such as cracklib, can be used to validate passwords are not dictionary words and meet other criteria during password changes.

Description

An easily guessable password provides an open door to any external or internal malicious intruder. Many computer compromises occur as the result of account name and password guessing. This is generally done by someone with an automated script using repeated logon attempts until the correct account and password pair is guessed. Utilities, such as cracklib, can be used to validate passwords are not dictionary words and meet other criteria during password changes.

STIG	Date
VMware ESX 3 Server	2016-05-13

Details

Check Text ( C-29097r1_chk )
Determine if the system prevents the use of dictionary words in passwords. If it does not, this is a finding.

Fix Text (F-26096r1_fix)
Configure the system to prevent the use of dictionary words in passwords.