SV-220742r1000079: The password history must be configured to 24 passwords remembered. | Microsoft Windows 10 STIG SCAP Benchmark

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Assessment Title

Rule Text

The password history must be configured to 24 passwords remembered.

Description

Discussion Text

A system is more vulnerable to unauthorized access when system users recycle the same password several times without being required to change a password to a unique password on a regularly scheduled basis. This enables users to effectively negate the purpose of mandating periodic password changes. The default value is 24 for Windows domain systems. DOD has decided this is the appropriate value for all Windows systems.

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

IA Controls

NIST SP 800-53

Not mappedCCI-004061V-63415SV-77905

References

DPMS Target Microsoft Windows 10 DISA DPMS Target Microsoft Windows 10 4072

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.

# Windows PowerShell
# Reconstructed from oval:mil.disa.stig.windows10:def:220742
# The password history must be configured to 24 passwords remembered.
# Per-module read mechanism curated from static teardown of DISA's SCC tool
# (SCAP Compliance Checker) -- see the SCC Automation Reference above.

# Verifies 'Enforce password history' is set to '24' passwords or more
# passwordpolicy_object (passwordpolicy_test)
function test_1 {
  return (((net accounts | Select-String 'Length of password history maintained') -replace '[^0-9]','') -ge 24)
}

if (test_1) {
  Write-Output "PASS"
} else {
  Write-Output "FAIL"
}

Assessment Script Powered by AISyntax-verified

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

Syntax-checked as valid PowerShell. Not executed here — running it for real needs the actual ms_windows_10 target this check assesses.

# OVAL Definition: oval:mil.disa.stig.windows10:def:220742
$passwordPolicy = Get-CimInstance -ClassName Win32_LocalUser -Filter "LocalAccount=TRUE"
foreach ($user in $passwordPolicy) {
    $policy = Get-CimInstance -ClassName Win32_UserAccount -Property PasswordHistorySize -Filter "Name = '$($user.Name)'"
    if ($policy.PasswordHistorySize -ge 24) { $compliant = $true }
}
if ($compliant -or $null -eq $passwordPolicy) { Write-Output "PASS"; Exit 0 } else { Write-Output "FAIL"; Exit 1 }

Remediation

Configure the policy value for Computer Configuration >> Windows Settings >> Security Settings >> Account Policies >> Password Policy >> "Enforce password history" to "24" passwords remembered.