SV-274137r1120725: Amazon Linux 2023 must enforce a minimum 15-character password length. | Amazon Linux 2023 STIG SCAP Benchmark

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Assessment Title

Rule Text

Amazon Linux 2023 must enforce a minimum 15-character password length.

Description

Discussion Text

The shorter the password, the lower the number of possible combinations that need to be tested before the password is compromised. Password complexity, or strength, is a measure of the effectiveness of a password in resisting attempts at guessing and brute-force attacks. Password length is one factor of several that helps to determine strength and how long it takes to crack a password. Use of more characters in a password helps to exponentially increase the time and/or resources required to compromise the password. Satisfies: SRG-OS-000078-GPOS-00046, SRG-OS-000725-GPOS-00180

How this relates to the STIG checklist: STIG vs SCAP benchmark.

IA Controls

NIST SP 800-53

Not mappedCCI-004066Not mappedCCI-004064

References

DPMS Target Amazon Linux 2023 DISA DPMS Target Amazon Linux 2023 5700

SCC Automation Reference

The reconstructed evaluation script behind this rule's OVAL check(s) — every module a compound check combines, with this rule's own concrete values and DISA's SCC tool's real per-module mechanism curated from static teardown of SCC releases.

#!/bin/bash
# Reconstructed from oval:mil.disa.stig.amzlx23os:def:274137
# Amazon Linux 2023 must enforce a minimum 15-character password length.
# Per-module read mechanism curated from static teardown of DISA's SCC tool
# (SCAP Compliance Checker) -- see the SCC Automation Reference above.

# passwords must have a minimum of 15 characters
# textfilecontent54_object (textfilecontent54_test)
test_1() {
  ( [ "$(sed -En 's/^\s*minlen\s*=\s*(-?\d*)\s*(?:#.*)?$/\1/p' '/etc/security/pwquality.conf')" -ge 15 ] ) || ( [ "$(grep -rhP --include='*.conf' '^\s*minlen\s*=\s*(-?\d*)\s*(?:#.*)?$' '/etc/security/pwquality.conf.d' | sed -En 's/^\s*minlen\s*=\s*(-?\d*)\s*(?:#.*)?$/\1/p')" -ge 15 ] )
}

if test_1; then
  echo "PASS"
else
  echo "FAIL"
fi

Assessment Script Powered by AISandbox-executed

A standalone Shell script to assess this control automatically. Review before running it in your environment.

Syntax-checked and actually executed in an isolated sandbox (not the real system this checks) — confirmed to run without errors.

#!/bin/sh
# OVAL Definition: oval:mil.disa.stig.amzlx23os:def:274137

if [ ! -f "/etc/security/pwquality.conf" ]; then echo "PASS"; exit 0; fi
if [ ! -s "/etc/security/pwquality.conf" ]; then echo "PASS"; exit 0; fi
if grep -qE "^\\s*minlen\\s*=\\s*15\\s*$" /etc/security/pwquality.conf; then echo "PASS"; exit 0; fi
if [ ! -d "/etc/security/pwquality.conf.d" ]; then echo "PASS"; exit 0; fi
for file in /etc/security/pwquality.conf.d/*.conf; do
    if [ ! -f "$file" ]; then continue; fi
    if grep -qE "^\\s*minlen\\s*=\\s*15\\s*$" "$file"; then continue; fi
    echo "FAIL"; exit 1;
done
echo "PASS"; exit 0

Remediation

Configure Amazon Linux 2023 to enforce a minimum 15-character password length.

Add or update the following line in the "/etc/security/pwquality.conf" file or a configuration file in the "/etc/security/pwquality.conf.d/" directory to contain the "minlen" parameter:

minlen = 15

Remove any configurations that conflict with the above value.