The SLES for vRealize must require the change of at least eight of the total number of characters when passwords are changed.

Overview

Finding ID	Version	Rule ID	IA Controls	Severity
V-240397	VRAU-SL-000360	SV-240397r670932_rule		High

Description
If the operating system allows the user to consecutively reuse extensive portions of passwords, this increases the chances of password compromise by increasing the window of opportunity for attempts at guessing and brute-force attacks. The number of changed characters refers to the number of changes required with respect to the total number of positions in the current password. In other words, characters may be the same within the two passwords; however, the positions of the like characters must be different.

Description

If the operating system allows the user to consecutively reuse extensive portions of passwords, this increases the chances of password compromise by increasing the window of opportunity for attempts at guessing and brute-force attacks. The number of changed characters refers to the number of changes required with respect to the total number of positions in the current password. In other words, characters may be the same within the two passwords; however, the positions of the like characters must be different.

STIG	Date
VMware vRealize Automation 7.x SLES Security Technical Implementation Guide	2023-09-22

Details

Check Text ( C-43630r670930_chk )
Check that at least eight characters need to be changed between old and new passwords during a password change by running the following command: # grep pam_cracklib /etc/pam.d/common-password-vmware.local The "difok" parameter indicates how many characters must be different. The DoD requires at least eight characters to be different during a password change. This would appear as "difok=8". If difok is not found or not set to at least "8", this is a finding. Expected Result: password requisite pam_cracklib.so dcredit=-1 ucredit=-1 lcredit=-1 ocredit=-1 minlen=14 difok=8 retry=3

Check Text ( C-43630r670930_chk )

Check that at least eight characters need to be changed between old and new passwords during a password change by running the following command:

# grep pam_cracklib /etc/pam.d/common-password-vmware.local

The "difok" parameter indicates how many characters must be different. The DoD requires at least eight characters to be different during a password change. This would appear as "difok=8". If difok is not found or not set to at least "8", this is a finding.

Expected Result:
password requisite pam_cracklib.so dcredit=-1 ucredit=-1 lcredit=-1 ocredit=-1 minlen=14 difok=8 retry=3

Fix Text (F-43589r670931_fix)
If "difok" was not set at all in /etc/pam.d/common-password-vmware.local then run the following command: # sed -i '/pam_cracklib.so/ s/$/ difok-8/' /etc/pam.d/common-password-vmware.local If "difok" was set incorrectly then run the following command to set it to "8": # sed -i '/pam_cracklib.so/ s/difok=./difok=8/' /etc/pam.d/common-password-vmware.local