SV-281189r1195442: RHEL 10 must require the change of at least four character classes when passwords are changed. | Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 STIG SCAP Benchmark

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Assessment Title

Rule Text

RHEL 10 must require the change of at least four character classes 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 is, the greater the number of possible combinations that must 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 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:281189
# RHEL 10 must require the change of at least four character classes 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() {
  ( [ "$(sed -En 's/^\s*minclass\s*=\s*(-?\d*)\s*(?:#.*)?$/\1/p' '/etc/security/pwquality.conf')" -ge 4 ] ) || ( [ "$(grep -rhP --include='*.conf' '^\s*minclass\s*=\s*(-?\d*)\s*(?:#.*)?$' '/etc/security/pwquality.conf.d' | sed -En 's/^\s*minclass\s*=\s*(-?\d*)\s*(?:#.*)?$/\1/p')" -ge 4 ] )
}

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:281189
if [ ! -f "/etc/security/pwquality.conf" ]; then echo "PASS"; exit 0; fi
if grep -qE "^\\s*minclass\\s*=\\s*4\\s*$" /etc/security/pwquality.conf; then echo "PASS"; exit 0; fi
if [ ! -d "/etc/security/pwquality.conf.d" ]; then echo "PASS"; exit 0; fi
for file in /etc/security/pwquality.conf.d/*.conf; do
    if grep -qE "^\\s*minclass\\s*=\\s*4\\s*$" "$file"; then echo "PASS"; exit 0; fi
done
echo "FAIL"; exit 1

Remediation

Configure RHEL 10 to require the change of at least four character classes when passwords are changed by setting the "minclass" option.

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 "minclass" parameter:

minclass = 4