Detections
Analytics

SRG-OS-000071-ESXI5 - The system must require that passwords contain at least one numeric character.

Information

To enforce the use of complex passwords, minimum numbers of characters of different classes are mandated. The use of complex passwords reduces the ability of attackers to successfully obtain valid passwords using guessing or exhaustive search techniques. Complexity requirements increase the password search space by requiring users to construct passwords from a larger character set than they may otherwise use.

NOTE: Nessus has not performed this check. Please review the benchmark to ensure target compliance.

Solution

Temporarily disable Lockdown Mode and enable the ESXi Shell via the vSphere Client. Open the vSphere/VMware Infrastructure (VI) Client and log in with appropriate credentials. If connecting to vCenter Server, click on the desired host. Click the Configuration tab. Click Software, Security Profile, Services, Properties, ESXi Shell and Options, respectively. Start the ESXi Shell service, where/as required.

As root, log in to the host and ensure the expected settings of the 'min' keyword are configured in the /etc/pam.d/passwd file.

# vi /etc/pam.d/passwd

Set the 'N4' password complexity field to '14' or greater and set the 'N0' thru 'N3' fields to 'disabled', i.e., min=disabled,disabled,disabled,disabled,14

Re-enable Lockdown Mode on the host.

See Also

https://dl.dod.cyber.mil/wp-content/uploads/stigs/zip/U_VMW_ESXi5_Server_V2R1_STIG.zip

Item Details

Category: IDENTIFICATION AND AUTHENTICATION

References: 800-53|IA-5(1)(a), CAT|II, CCI|CCI-000194, Group-ID|V-39258, Rule-ID|SV-250620r798859_rule, STIG-ID|SRG-OS-000071-ESXI5, STIG-Legacy|SV-51074, STIG-Legacy|V-39258, Vuln-ID|V-250620

Plugin: VMware

Control ID: 4d734587ac1ef9cd786ca01b89bf61bb82fec2ba6157e1476c734585d47553e2