7.1.1 Set Password Expiration Days - 1-90

Information

The PASS_MAX_DAYS parameter in /etc/login.defs allows an administrator to force passwords to expire once they reach a defined age. It is recommended that the PASS_MAX_DAYS parameter be set to less than or equal to 90 days.

Rationale:

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 an attacker's window of opportunity.

Solution

Set the PASS_MAX_DAYS parameter to 90 in /etc/login.defs:

PASS_MAX_DAYS 90

Modify active user parameters to match:

# chage --maxdays 90 <user>

Default Value:

OS Default: No

See Also

https://workbench.cisecurity.org/files/3096