5.4.1.2 Ensure minimum days between password changes is configured - login.defs

Information

The PASS_MIN_DAYS parameter in /etc/login.defs allows an administrator to prevent users from changing their password until a minimum number of days have passed since the last time the user changed their password. It is recommended that PASS_MIN_DAYS parameter be set to 1 or more days.

Rationale:

By restricting the frequency of password changes, an administrator can prevent users from repeatedly changing their password in an attempt to circumvent password reuse controls.

Solution

Set the PASS_MIN_DAYS parameter to 1 in /etc/login.defs :

PASS_MIN_DAYS 1

Modify user parameters for all users with a password set to match:

# chage --mindays 1 <user>

Notes:

You can also check this setting in /etc/shadow directly. The 4th field should be 1 or more for all users with a password.

See Also

https://workbench.cisecurity.org/files/2611

Item Details

Category: IDENTIFICATION AND AUTHENTICATION

References: 800-53|IA-5(1)(d), CSCv6|16

Plugin: Unix

Control ID: b6ad17f70fc27252d840de9c630c201f9d053faf0497c0e7f0aa546e4061227c