SV-271616r1091560: OL 9 must enforce password complexity by requiring that at least one numeric character be used. | Oracle Linux 9 STIG SCAP Benchmark

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Assessment Title

Rule Text

OL 9 must enforce password complexity by requiring that at least one numeric character be used.

Description

Discussion Text

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. Password complexity is one factor of several that determines how long it takes to crack a password. The more complex the password, the greater the number of possible combinations that need to be tested before the password is compromised. Requiring digits makes password guessing attacks more difficult by ensuring a larger search space.

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

IA Controls

NIST SP 800-53

Not mappedCCI-004066

References

DPMS Target Oracle Linux 9 DISA DPMS Target Oracle Linux 9 5680

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.ol9os:def:271616
# OL 9 must enforce password complexity by requiring that at least one numeric character be used.
# Per-module read mechanism curated from static teardown of DISA's SCC tool
# (SCAP Compliance Checker) -- see the SCC Automation Reference above.

# at least one numeric character is required
# textfilecontent54_object (textfilecontent54_test)
test_1() {
  ( [ "$(sed -En 's/^\s*dcredit\s*=\s*(-?\d*)\s*(?:#.*)?$/\1/p' '/etc/security/pwquality.conf')" -lt 0 ] ) || ( [ "$(grep -rhP --include='*.conf' '^\s*dcredit\s*=\s*(-?\d*)\s*(?:#.*)?$' '/etc/security/pwquality.conf.d' | sed -En 's/^\s*dcredit\s*=\s*(-?\d*)\s*(?:#.*)?$/\1/p')" -lt 0 ] )
}

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.ol9os:def:271616
if [ ! -f "/etc/security/pwquality.conf" ]; then echo "PASS"; exit 0; fi
if grep -qE "^\\s*dcredit\\s*=\\s*(-?\\d+)\\s*(?:#.*)?$" /etc/security/pwquality.conf && [ $(grep -oE "\\s*dcredit\\s*=\\s*(-?\\d+)" /etc/security/pwquality.conf | awk '{print $1}') -le 0 ]; then echo "PASS"; exit 0; else echo "FAIL"; exit 1; fi

Remediation

Configure OL 9 to enforce password complexity by requiring at least one numeric character is used by setting the "dcredit" option.

Add the following line to "/etc/security/pwquality.conf" (or modify the line to have the required value):

dcredit = -1