RHEL-09-611125 - RHEL 9 must require the maximum number of repeating characters be limited to three when passwords are changed.

Information

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 a password, the greater the number of possible combinations that need to be tested before the password is compromised.

Solution

Configure RHEL 9 to require the change of the number of repeating consecutive characters when passwords are changed by setting the 'maxrepeat' option.

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

maxrepeat = 3

See Also

https://dl.dod.cyber.mil/wp-content/uploads/stigs/zip/U_RHEL_9_V1R3_STIG.zip

Item Details

Category: IDENTIFICATION AND AUTHENTICATION

References: 800-53|IA-5(1)(b), CAT|II, CCI|CCI-000195, Rule-ID|SV-258114r926329_rule, STIG-ID|RHEL-09-611125, Vuln-ID|V-258114

Plugin: Unix

Control ID: bd09393f182b2718e96b38c96748c86d2e759fa72fa70cd94d684fdd6f91d7e0