PHTN-30-000110 - The Photon operating system must enforce password complexity on the root account.

Information

Password complexity rules must apply to all accounts on the system, including root. Without specifying the 'enforce_for_root flag', 'pam_cracklib' does not apply complexity rules to the root user. While root users can find ways around this requirement, given its superuser power, it is necessary to attempt to force compliance.

Solution

Navigate to and open:

/etc/pam.d/system-password

Add the following, replacing any existing 'pam_cracklib.so' line:

password requisite pam_cracklib.so dcredit=-1 ucredit=-1 lcredit=-1 ocredit=-1 minlen=8 minclass=4 difok=4 retry=3 maxsequence=0 enforce_for_root

Note: On vCenter appliances, the equivalent file must be edited under '/etc/applmgmt/appliance', if one exists, for the changes to persist after a reboot.

See Also

https://dl.dod.cyber.mil/wp-content/uploads/stigs/zip/U_VMW_vSphere_7-0_Y24M01_STIG.zip

Item Details

Category: CONFIGURATION MANAGEMENT

References: 800-53|CM-6b., CAT|II, CCI|CCI-000366, Rule-ID|SV-256579r887411_rule, STIG-ID|PHTN-30-000110, Vuln-ID|V-256579

Plugin: Unix

Control ID: 3c919c7fa5309da2e4f90977ff82c01950515c7905d3919abea9a0b06cb6b177