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RHEL-10-600405 RHEL 10 must enforce password complexity rules for the "root" account.

DISA STIG library V1R3
All changes in this version
first version loaded CAT II

Maps to IA-5(1) via CCI-004066

Title

RHEL 10 must enforce password complexity rules for the "root" account.

Control

Verify RHEL 10 enforces password complexity rules for the "root" account. Check if "root" user is required to use complex passwords with the following command: $ sudo grep enforce_for_root /etc/security/pwquality.conf /etc/security/pwquality.conf.d/*.conf /etc/security/pwquality.conf:enforce_for_root If "enforce_for_root" is commented out or is missing, this is a finding.

Discussion

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 must be tested before the password is compromised. Satisfies: SRG-OS-000072-GPOS-00040, SRG-OS-000071-GPOS-00039, SRG-OS-000070-GPOS-00038, SRG-OS-000266-GPOS-00101, SRG-OS-000078-GPOS-00046, SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00225, SRG-OS-000069-GPOS-00037

Related controls

CCI-004066

Fix

Configure RHEL 10 to enforce password complexity on the "root" account. Add or update the following line in the "/etc/security/pwquality.conf" file or a configuration file in the "/etc/security/pwquality.conf.d/" directory to contain the "enforce_for_root" parameter: enforce_for_root