Detections
Analytics

4.5.1.2 Ensure password expiration is 365 days or less

Information

The passwordtime parameter in /etc/login.conf allows an administrator to force passwords to expire once they reach a defined age. It is recommended that the passwordtime parameter be set to less than or equal to 365 days.

The window of opportunity for an attacker to leverage compromised credentials or successfully compromise credentials via an online brute force attack is limited by the age of the password. Therefore, reducing the maximum age of a password also reduces an attacker's window of opportunity.

Solution

Set the passwordtime parameter to conform to site policy in /etc/login.conf and add something similar to the following in the default class :

:passwordtime=365d:

After editing the file regenerate the login.conf.db with the command:

# cap_mkdb /etc/login.conf

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

# # for i in $(awk -F: '($3>=1000)&&($1!="nobody"){print $1}' /etc/passwd); do pw usermod -n $i -p +365d; done

Impact:

The password expiration must be greater than the minimum days between password changes or users will be unable to change their password

See Also

https://workbench.cisecurity.org/benchmarks/19044

Item Details

Category: CONFIGURATION MANAGEMENT, IDENTIFICATION AND AUTHENTICATION, SYSTEM AND SERVICES ACQUISITION

References: 800-53|CM-1, 800-53|CM-2, 800-53|CM-6, 800-53|CM-7, 800-53|CM-7(1), 800-53|CM-9, 800-53|IA-5, 800-53|SA-3, 800-53|SA-8, 800-53|SA-10, CSCv7|4.4

Plugin: Unix

Control ID: d3a190d4e013d52414563e8b58bdbb287ddd732b3a76578c8184e28a83066cb9