ALMA-09-037090 - AlmaLinux OS 9 must require the change of at least eight characters when passwords are changed.

Information

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.

Solution

Configure AlmaLinux OS 9 to require the change of at least eight of the total number of characters when passwords are changed by setting the "difok" option.

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:

difok = 8

Remove any configurations that conflict with the above value.

See Also

https://dl.dod.cyber.mil/wp-content/uploads/stigs/zip/U_CL_AlmaLinux_OS_9_V1R1_STIG.zip

Item Details

Category: IDENTIFICATION AND AUTHENTICATION

References: 800-53|IA-5(1)(a), CAT|II, CCI|CCI-004066, Rule-ID|SV-269397r1050280_rule, STIG-ID|ALMA-09-037090, Vuln-ID|V-269397

Plugin: Unix

Control ID: 731ca60d23853f9c2d9814797839dc91b84984e0b532dbdb570f26e6147c6363