5.3.1.2 Ensure minimum days between password changes is 7 or more - 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 7 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 7 in /etc/login.defs :

PASS_MIN_DAYS 7

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

# chage --mindays 7 <user>

Additional Information:

You can also check this setting in /etc/shadow directly. The 4th field should be 7 or more for all users with a password.

See Also

https://workbench.cisecurity.org/benchmarks/8717

Item Details

Category: IDENTIFICATION AND AUTHENTICATION

References: 800-53|IA-5(1), CSCv7|4.4

Plugin: Unix

Control ID: c213c7b6a0e07a7d1dcb5c0f3719ca05d8ebb55b6e26c7979c7d847ef2881090