5.3.3.2.10 Ensure lcredit is configured in /etc/security/pwquality.conf

Information

The operating system must enforce password complexity by requiring that at least one lower-case character be used.

Use of a complex password helps to increase the time and resources required to compromise the password. Password complexity, or strength, is a measure of the effectiveness of a password in resisting attempts at guessing and brute-force attacks.

Password complexity is one factor of several that determines how long it takes to crack a password. The more complex the password, the greater the number of possible combinations that need to be tested before the password is compromised.

RHEL 8 operating systems utilize pwquality as a mechanism to enforce password complexity. Note that in order to require lower-case characters without degrading the "minlen" value, the credit value must be expressed as a negative number in "/etc/security/pwquality.conf".

Solution

Configure the operating system to enforce password complexity by requiring that at least one lower-case character be used by setting the "lcredit" option.

Add the following line to /etc/security/pwquality.conf (or modify the line to have the required value):

lcredit = -1

See Also

https://workbench.cisecurity.org/benchmarks/19886

Item Details

Category: IDENTIFICATION AND AUTHENTICATION

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

Plugin: Unix

Control ID: 53124c814da18ad4ceadd2c265e8a0683ec7f60a2029e5ce80dece85f66d9f8d