The Photon operating system must be configured to use the pam

The Photon operating system must be configured to use the pam_pwquality.so module.

Overview

Finding ID	Version	Rule ID	IA Controls	Severity
V-258863	PHTN-40-000197	SV-258863r933650_rule		Medium

Description
Use of a complex password helps to increase the time and resources required to compromise the password. Password complexity, or strength, is a measure of the effectiveness of a password in resisting attempts at guessing and brute-force attacks. Password complexity is one factor of several that determines how long it takes to crack a password. The more complex the password, the greater the number of possible combinations that need to be tested before the password is compromised.

Description

Use of a complex password helps to increase the time and resources required to compromise the password. Password complexity, or strength, is a measure of the effectiveness of a password in resisting attempts at guessing and brute-force attacks. Password complexity is one factor of several that determines how long it takes to crack a password. The more complex the password, the greater the number of possible combinations that need to be tested before the password is compromised.

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

Details

Check Text ( C-62603r933648_chk )
At the command line, run the following command to verify the pam_pwquality.so module is used: # grep '^password' /etc/pam.d/system-password Example result: password requisite pam_pwquality.so dcredit=-1 ucredit=-1 lcredit=-1 ocredit=-1 minlen=15 difok=8 enforce_for_root dictcheck=1 password required pam_pwhistory.so remember=5 retry=3 enforce_for_root use_authtok password required pam_unix.so sha512 use_authtok shadow try_first_pass If the pam_pwquality.so module is not present, this is a finding.

Check Text ( C-62603r933648_chk )

At the command line, run the following command to verify the pam_pwquality.so module is used:

# grep '^password' /etc/pam.d/system-password

Example result:

password requisite pam_pwquality.so dcredit=-1 ucredit=-1 lcredit=-1 ocredit=-1 minlen=15 difok=8 enforce_for_root dictcheck=1
password required pam_pwhistory.so remember=5 retry=3 enforce_for_root use_authtok
password required pam_unix.so sha512 use_authtok shadow try_first_pass

If the pam_pwquality.so module is not present, this is a finding.

Fix Text (F-62512r933649_fix)
Navigate to and open: /etc/pam.d/system-password Add or update the pam_pwquality.so module line as follows: password requisite pam_pwquality.so dcredit=-1 ucredit=-1 lcredit=-1 ocredit=-1 minlen=15 difok=8 enforce_for_root dictcheck=1 Note: The line must be configured before pam_pwhistory.so. 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.

Fix Text (F-62512r933649_fix)

Navigate to and open:

/etc/pam.d/system-password

Add or update the pam_pwquality.so module line as follows:

password requisite pam_pwquality.so dcredit=-1 ucredit=-1 lcredit=-1 ocredit=-1 minlen=15 difok=8 enforce_for_root dictcheck=1

Note: The line must be configured before pam_pwhistory.so.

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.