1.327 RHEL-09-611090

Information

RHEL 9 passwords must be created with a minimum of 15 characters.

GROUP ID: V-258107
RULE ID: SV-258107r1045218

The shorter the password, the lower the number of possible combinations that need to be tested before the password is compromised.

Password complexity, or strength, is a measure of the effectiveness of a password in resisting attempts at guessing and brute-force attacks. Password length is one factor of several that helps to determine strength and how long it takes to crack a password. Use of more characters in a password helps to increase exponentially the time and/or resources required to compromise the password.

RHEL 9 uses "pwquality" as a mechanism to enforce password complexity. Configurations are set in the "etc/security/pwquality.conf" file.

The "minlen", sometimes noted as minimum length, acts as a "score" of complexity based on the credit components of the "pwquality" module. By setting the credit components to a negative value, not only will those components be required, but they will not count toward the total "score" of "minlen". This will enable "minlen" to require a 15-character minimum.

The DOD minimum password requirement is 15 characters.

Solution

Configure RHEL 9 to enforce a minimum 15-character password length.

Add or update the following line in the "/etc/security/pwquality.conf" file or a configuration file in the "/etc/security/pwquality.conf.d/" directory to contain the "minlen" parameter:

minlen = 15

See Also

https://workbench.cisecurity.org/benchmarks/22008

Item Details

Category: IDENTIFICATION AND AUTHENTICATION

References: 800-53|IA-5, 800-53|IA-5(1), CAT|II, CCI|CCI-000205, CCI|CCI-004066, Rule-ID|SV-258107r1045218_rule, STIG-ID|RHEL-09-611090, Vuln-ID|V-258107

Plugin: Unix

Control ID: af87107a3d4701a4b016ae17a5d0427dd1c0888f8d258a8651750d5f357b7a2d