The Photon operating system must enforce the limit of three consecutive invalid logon attempts by a user during a 15-minute time period.

Overview

Finding ID	Version	Rule ID	IA Controls	Severity
V-258802	PHTN-40-000004	SV-258802r933467_rule		Medium

Description
By limiting the number of failed logon attempts, the risk of unauthorized system access via user password guessing, otherwise known as brute-force attacks, is reduced. Limits are imposed by locking the account.

STIG	Date
VMware vSphere 8.0 vCenter Appliance Photon OS 4.0 Security Technical Implementation Guide	2023-10-29

Details

Check Text ( C-62542r933465_chk )
At the command line, run the following commands to verify accounts are locked after three consecutive invalid logon attempts by a user during a 15-minute time period: # grep '^deny =' /etc/security/faillock.conf Example result: deny = 3 If the "deny" option is not set to "3" or less (but not "0"), is missing or commented out, this is a finding. # grep '^fail_interval =' /etc/security/faillock.conf Example result: fail_interval = 900 If the "fail_interval" option is not set to "900" or more, is missing or commented out, this is a finding. Note: If faillock.conf is not used to configure the "pam_faillock.so" module, then these options may be specified on the faillock lines in the system-auth and system-account PAM files.

Check Text ( C-62542r933465_chk )

At the command line, run the following commands to verify accounts are locked after three consecutive invalid logon attempts by a user during a 15-minute time period:

# grep '^deny =' /etc/security/faillock.conf

Example result:

deny = 3

If the "deny" option is not set to "3" or less (but not "0"), is missing or commented out, this is a finding.

# grep '^fail_interval =' /etc/security/faillock.conf

Example result:

fail_interval = 900

If the "fail_interval" option is not set to "900" or more, is missing or commented out, this is a finding.

Note: If faillock.conf is not used to configure the "pam_faillock.so" module, then these options may be specified on the faillock lines in the system-auth and system-account PAM files.

Fix Text (F-62451r933466_fix)
Navigate to and open: /etc/security/faillock.conf Add or update the following lines: deny = 3 fail_interval = 900 Note: On vCenter appliances, the equivalent file must be edited under "/etc/applmgmt/appliance", if one exists, for the changes to persist after a reboot.