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RHEL-09-611010 RHEL 9 must ensure the password complexity module in the system-auth file is configured for three retries or less.

DISA STIG library V2R10
All changes in this version
first version loaded CAT II

Maps to IA-5(1) via CCI-004066, CCI-000192

Title

RHEL 9 must ensure the password complexity module in the system-auth file is configured for three retries or less.

Control

Verify RHEL 9 is configured to limit the "pwquality" retry option to "3". Check for the use of the retry option in the security directory with the following command: $ grep -w retry /etc/security/pwquality.conf /etc/security/pwquality.conf.d/*.conf retry = 3 If the value of "retry" is set to "0" or greater than "3", 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. "pwquality" enforces complex password construction configuration and has the ability to limit brute-force attacks on the system. By limiting the number of attempts to meet the pwquality module complexity requirements before returning with an error, the system will audit abnormal attempts at password changes.

Related controls

CCI-000192, CCI-004066

Fix

Configure RHEL 9 to limit the "pwquality" retry option to "3". Add or update the following line in the "/etc/security/pwquality.conf" file or a file in the "/etc/security/pwquality.conf.d/" directory to contain the "retry" parameter: retry = 3