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UBTU-16-010099 - The Ubuntu operating system must be configured so that when passwords are changed or new passwords are established, pwquality must be used - dpkg -s libpam-pwquality

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. 'pwquality' enforces complex password construction configuration and has the ability to limit brute-force attacks on the system.

Solution

Configure the operating system to use 'pam_pwquality' to enforce password complexity rules.
Install the 'libpam-pwquality' package:

# sudo apt install libpam-pwquality

Add the following line to '/etc/pam.d/common-password' (or modify the line to have the required value):

password required pam_pwquality.so retry=3

Note: The value of 'retry' should be between '1' and '3'.

See Also

https://dl.dod.cyber.mil/wp-content/uploads/stigs/zip/U_CAN_Ubuntu_16-04_LTS_V2R3_STIG.zip

Item Details

Category: IDENTIFICATION AND AUTHENTICATION

References: 800-53|IA-5(1)(a), 800-53|IA-5(1)(b), 800-53|IA-5(1)(e), CAT|II, CCI|CCI-000192, CCI|CCI-000193, CCI|CCI-000194, CCI|CCI-000195, CCI|CCI-000200, CCI|CCI-000205, CCI|CCI-001619, Rule-ID|SV-214948r610931_rule, STIG-ID|UBTU-16-010099, STIG-Legacy|SV-108113, STIG-Legacy|V-99009, Vuln-ID|V-214948

Plugin: Unix

Control ID: a6a2e8c653bfe53ce3aa032266e9d981a08faaa88e3d52d4c3d73568ef2f62bc