SV-204417r982199: The Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating system must be configured so that user and group account administration utilities are configured to store only encrypted representations of passwords. | Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 STIG SCAP Benchmark

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Assessment Title

Rule Text

The Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating system must be configured so that user and group account administration utilities are configured to store only encrypted representations of passwords.

Description

Discussion Text

Passwords need to 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 encrypted with a weak algorithm are no more protected than if they are kept in plain text.

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

IA Controls

NIST SP 800-53

Not mappedCCI-000196V-71923SV-86547

References

DPMS Target Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 DISA DPMS Target Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 2899

Checks

DISA STIG (Manual Reference)

Verify the user and group account administration utilities are configured to store only encrypted representations of passwords. The strength of encryption that must be used to hash passwords for all accounts is "SHA512".

Check that the system is configured to create "SHA512" hashed passwords with the following command:

# grep -i sha512 /etc/libuser.conf 

crypt_style = sha512

If the "crypt_style" variable is not set to "sha512", is not in the defaults section, is commented out, or does not exist, this is a finding.

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.rhel7:def:1363
# The Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating system must be configured so that user and group account administration utilities are configured to store only encrypted representations of passwords.
# Per-module read mechanism curated from static teardown of DISA's SCC tool
# (SCAP Compliance Checker) -- see the SCC Automation Reference above.

# The password hashing algorithm should be set correctly in /etc/libuser.conf
# textfilecontent54_object (textfilecontent54_test)
test_1() {
  (sed -En 's/^[\s]*crypt_style[\s]+=[\s]+(\S+)[\s]*$/\1/p' '/etc/libuser.conf') | grep -Pq '^[Ss][Hh][Aa]512$'
}

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.rhel7:def:1363
if grep -qE "^[\s]*crypt_style[\s]+=[\s]+([Ss][Hh][Aa]512)[\s]*$" /etc/libuser.conf; then echo "PASS"; exit 0; else echo "FAIL"; exit 1; fi

Remediation

Configure the operating system to store only SHA512 encrypted representations of passwords.

Add or update the following line in "/etc/libuser.conf" in the [defaults] section: 

crypt_style = sha512