SV-204423r982202: The Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating system must be configured so that passwords are a minimum of 15 characters in length. | 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 passwords are a minimum of 15 characters in length.

Description

Discussion Text

The shorter the password, the lower the number of possible combinations that need to be tested before the password is compromised. Password complexity, or strength, is a measure of the effectiveness of a password in resisting attempts at guessing and brute-force attacks. Password length is one factor of several that helps to determine strength and how long it takes to crack a password. Use of more characters in a password helps to exponentially increase the time and/or resources required to compromise the password.

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

IA Controls

NIST SP 800-53

Not mappedCCI-000205V-71935SV-86559

References

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

Checks

DISA STIG (Manual Reference)

Verify the operating system enforces a minimum 15-character password length. The "minlen" option sets the minimum number of characters in a new password.

Check for the value of the "minlen" option in "/etc/security/pwquality.conf" with the following command:

# grep minlen /etc/security/pwquality.conf
minlen = 15

If the command does not return a "minlen" value of 15 or greater, 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.rhel7os:def:204423
# The Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating system must be configured so that passwords are a minimum of 15 characters in length.
# Per-module read mechanism curated from static teardown of DISA's SCC tool
# (SCAP Compliance Checker) -- see the SCC Automation Reference above.

# passwords must have a minimum of 15 characters
# textfilecontent54_object (textfilecontent54_test)
test_1() {
  ( [ "$(sed -En 's/^\s*minlen\s*=\s*(-?\d*)\s*(?:#.*)?$/\1/p' '/etc/security/pwquality.conf')" -ge 15 ] ) || ( [ "$(grep -rhP --include='*.conf' '^\s*minlen\s*=\s*(-?\d*)\s*(?:#.*)?$' '/etc/security/pwquality.conf.d' | sed -En 's/^\s*minlen\s*=\s*(-?\d*)\s*(?:#.*)?$/\1/p')" -ge 15 ] )
}

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.rhel7os:def:204423

if [ ! -f "/etc/security/pwquality.conf" ]; then
  echo "PASS"
  exit 0
fi

if grep -qE "^\\s*minlen\\s*=\\s*(-?\\d+)\\s*$" /etc/security/pwquality.conf; then
  match=$(grep -oE "^\\s*minlen\\s*=\\s*(-?\\d+)\\s*$" /etc/security/pwquality.conf)
  if [ "$match" -ge 15 ]; then
    echo "PASS"
    exit 0
  fi
fi

echo "FAIL"
exit 1

Remediation

Configure operating system to enforce a minimum 15-character password length.

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

minlen = 15