RHEL-09-411080 - RHEL 9 must automatically lock the root account until the root account is released by an administrator when three unsuccessful logon attempts occur during a 15-minute time period.

Information

By limiting the number of failed logon attempts, the risk of unauthorized system access via user password guessing, also known as brute-forcing, is reduced. Limits are imposed by locking the account.

Satisfies: SRG-OS-000329-GPOS-00128, SRG-OS-000021-GPOS-00005

Solution

Configure RHEL 9 to lock out the 'root' account after a number of incorrect login attempts using 'pam_faillock.so', first enable the feature using the following command:

$ sudo authselect enable-feature with-faillock

Then edit the '/etc/security/faillock.conf' file as follows:

add or uncomment the following line:
even_deny_root

See Also

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

Item Details

Category: ACCESS CONTROL

References: 800-53|AC-7a., 800-53|AC-7b., CAT|II, CCI|CCI-000044, CCI|CCI-002238, Rule-ID|SV-258055r926152_rule, STIG-ID|RHEL-09-411080, Vuln-ID|V-258055

Plugin: Unix

Control ID: 72ae94d8ac5429b379f5b8b41ae808acefb79d01300772d1cc2d149d7e4c4940