SV-271619r1091569: OL 9 must require the maximum number of repeating characters be limited to three when passwords are changed. | Oracle Linux 9 STIG SCAP Benchmark

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Assessment Title

Rule Text

OL 9 must require the maximum number of repeating characters be limited to three when passwords are changed.

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 a password, the greater the number of possible combinations that need to be tested before the password is compromised.

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:271619
# OL 9 must require the maximum number of repeating characters be limited to three when passwords are changed.
# Per-module read mechanism curated from static teardown of DISA's SCC tool
# (SCAP Compliance Checker) -- see the SCC Automation Reference above.

# textfilecontent54_object (textfilecontent54_test)
test_1() {
  ( ( [ "$(sed -En 's/^\s*maxrepeat\s*=\s*(-?\d*)\s*(?:#.*)?$/\1/p' '/etc/security/pwquality.conf')" -le 3 ] ) && ( [ "$(sed -En 's/^\s*maxrepeat\s*=\s*(-?\d*)\s*(?:#.*)?$/\1/p' '/etc/security/pwquality.conf')" -gt 0 ] ) ) || ( ( [ "$(grep -rhP --include='*.conf' '^\s*maxrepeat\s*=\s*(-?\d*)\s*(?:#.*)?$' '/etc/security/pwquality.conf.d' | sed -En 's/^\s*maxrepeat\s*=\s*(-?\d*)\s*(?:#.*)?$/\1/p')" -le 3 ] ) && ( [ "$(grep -rhP --include='*.conf' '^\s*maxrepeat\s*=\s*(-?\d*)\s*(?:#.*)?$' '/etc/security/pwquality.conf.d' | sed -En 's/^\s*maxrepeat\s*=\s*(-?\d*)\s*(?:#.*)?$/\1/p')" -gt 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:271619
if [ ! -f "/etc/security/pwquality.conf" ]; then echo "PASS"; exit 0; fi
if grep -qE '^\s*maxrepeat\s*=[\s]*[0-9]+\s*$' /etc/security/pwquality.conf; then
  match=$(grep -oP '^\s*maxrepeat\s*=[\s]*([0-9]+)\s*$' /etc/security/pwquality.conf | tr -d ' ')
  if [ "$match" -le 3 ] && [ "$match" -gt 0 ]; then echo "PASS"; exit 0; fi
fi
echo "FAIL"; exit 1

Remediation

Configure OL 9 to require the change of the number of repeating consecutive characters when passwords are changed by setting the "maxrepeat" option.

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

maxrepeat = 3