SV-281220r1166612: RHEL 10 must be configured so that password-auth uses a sufficient number of hashing rounds. | Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 STIG SCAP Benchmark

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Assessment Title

Rule Text

RHEL 10 must be configured so that password-auth uses a sufficient number of hashing rounds.

Description

Discussion Text

Passwords must be protected at all times, and encryption is the standard method for protecting passwords. If passwords are not encrypted, they can be plainly read (i.e., clear text) and easily compromised. Passwords that are encrypted with a weak algorithm are no more protected than if they are kept in plain text. Using more hashing rounds makes password cracking attacks more difficult. Satisfies: SRG-OS-000073-GPOS-00041, SRG-OS-000120-GPOS-00061

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

IA Controls

NIST SP 800-53

Not mappedCCI-004062Not mappedCCI-000803

References

DPMS Target Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 DISA DPMS Target Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 5733

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.rhel10os:def:281220
# RHEL 10 must be configured so that password-auth uses a sufficient number of hashing rounds.
# Per-module read mechanism curated from static teardown of DISA's SCC tool
# (SCAP Compliance Checker) -- see the SCC Automation Reference above.

# The pam_unix module is included in password-auth and configured for 100000 or more rounds.
# textfilecontent54_object (textfilecontent54_test)
test_1() {
  [ "$(sed -En 's/^\s*password\s+sufficient\s+pam_unix\.so\s+[^#\n]*\brounds=(\d+)\b/\1/p' '/etc/pam.d/password-auth')" -ge 100000 ]
}

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:mil.disa.stig.rhel10os:def:281220
if [ ! -f "/etc/pam.d/password-auth" ]; then echo "PASS"; exit 0; fi
if grep -q "^\\s*password\\s+sufficient\\s+pam_unix\\.so\\s+[^#\\n]*\\brounds=100000\\b" /etc/pam.d/password-auth; then echo "PASS"; exit 0; fi
echo "FAIL"; exit 1

Remediation

Configure RHEL 10 to use "100000" hashing rounds for hashing passwords.

Add or modify the following line in "/etc/pam.d/password-auth" and set "rounds" to "100000":

password sufficient pam_unix.so sha512 rounds=100000