Catalina - Prohibit Password Reuse for a Minimum of Five Generations

Information

The macOS _MUST_ be configured to enforce a password history of at least five previous passwords when a password is created.

This rule ensures that users are not allowed to re-use a password that was used in any of the five previous password generations.

Limiting password reuse protects against malicious users attempting to gain access to the system via brute-force hacking methods.

NOTE: The guidance for password based authentication in NIST 800-53 (Rev 5) and NIST 800-63B state that complexity rules should be organizationally defined. The values defined are based off of common complexity values. But your organization may define its own password complexity rules.

Solution

This is implemented by a Configuration Profile.

mobileconfig profile info:

com.apple.mobiledevice.passwordpolicy:
pinHistory:
5

See Also

https://github.com/usnistgov/macos_security

Item Details

Category: IDENTIFICATION AND AUTHENTICATION

References: 800-53|IA-5(1), 800-53|IA-5(1)(e), CCE|CCE-84814-3, CCI|CCI-000200, STIG-ID|AOSX-15-003009

Plugin: Unix

Control ID: f546109428ac3bb64fe9a1d81527b788fd1545ef9484f6ffdee9dabecd897890