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RHEL-09-611025 RHEL 9 must not allow blank or null passwords.

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

Maps to CM-6 via CCI-000366

Title

RHEL 9 must not allow blank or null passwords.

Control

Verify that null passwords cannot be used with the following command: $ sudo grep -i nullok /etc/pam.d/system-auth /etc/pam.d/password-auth If output is produced, this is a finding. If the system administrator (SA) can demonstrate that the required configuration is contained in a PAM configuration file included or substacked from the system-auth file, this is not a finding.

Discussion

If an account has an empty password, anyone could log in and run commands with the privileges of that account. Accounts with empty passwords should never be used in operational environments.

Related controls

CCI-000366

Fix

If PAM is managed with authselect, use the following command to remove instances of "nullok": $ sudo authselect enable-feature without-nullok Otherwise, remove any instances of the "nullok" option in the "/etc/pam.d/password-auth" and "/etc/pam.d/system-auth" files to prevent logons with empty passwords. Note: Manual changes to the listed file may be overwritten by the "authselect" program.