The Photon operating system must enforce password complexity on the root account.

Overview

Finding ID	Version	Rule ID	IA Controls	Severity
V-239188	PHTN-67-000117	SV-239188r863035_rule		Medium

Description
Password complexity rules must apply to all accounts on the system, including root. Without specifying the enforce_for_root flag, pam_cracklib does not apply complexity rules to the root user. While root users can find ways around this requirement, given its superuser power, it is necessary to attempt to force compliance.

STIG	Date
VMware vSphere 6.7 Photon OS Security Technical Implementation Guide	2022-09-27

Details

Check Text ( C-42399r863034_chk )
At the command line, execute the following command: # grep pam_cracklib /etc/pam.d/system-password\|grep --color=always "enforce_for_root" Expected result: password requisite pam_cracklib.so dcredit=-1 ucredit=-1 lcredit=-1 ocredit=-1 minlen=8 minclass=4 difok=4 retry=3 maxsequence=0 enforce_for_root If the output does not match the expected result, this is a finding. NOTE: After the fix is implemented, the check will not pass until either a reboot is performed or both files are modified, which happens automatically on reboot.

Check Text ( C-42399r863034_chk )

At the command line, execute the following command:

# grep pam_cracklib /etc/pam.d/system-password|grep --color=always "enforce_for_root"

Expected result:

password requisite pam_cracklib.so dcredit=-1 ucredit=-1 lcredit=-1 ocredit=-1 minlen=8 minclass=4 difok=4 retry=3 maxsequence=0 enforce_for_root

If the output does not match the expected result, this is a finding.

NOTE: After the fix is implemented, the check will not pass until either a reboot is performed or both files are modified, which happens automatically on reboot.

Fix Text (F-42358r816675_fix)
Open /etc/applmgmt/appliance/system-password with a text editor. Comment out any existing "pam_cracklib.so" line and add the following: password requisite pam_cracklib.so dcredit=-1 ucredit=-1 lcredit=-1 ocredit=-1 minlen=8 minclass=4 difok=4 retry=3 maxsequence=0 enforce_for_root Save and close.