UBTU-24-300028 - Ubuntu 24.04 LTS must not allow accounts configured in Pluggable Authentication Modules (PAM) with blank or null passwords.

Information

If an account has an empty password, anyone could log on and run commands with the privileges of that account. Accounts with empty passwords must never be used in operational environments.

Solution

If an account is configured for password authentication but does not have an assigned password, it is possible to log on to the account without authenticating.

Remove any instances of the "nullok" option in "/etc/pam.d/common-password" to prevent logons with empty passwords.

See Also

https://dl.dod.cyber.mil/wp-content/uploads/stigs/zip/U_CAN_Ubuntu_24-04_LTS_V1R1_STIG.zip

Item Details

Category: CONFIGURATION MANAGEMENT

References: 800-53|CM-6b., CAT|I, CCI|CCI-000366, Rule-ID|SV-270714r1067119_rule, STIG-ID|UBTU-24-300028, Vuln-ID|V-270714

Plugin: Unix

Control ID: 38b20014a47f2d9914f1720e07da9973f252875247933964195011d53d8d9c87