SV-230370r1262208: RHEL 8 passwords for new users must have a minimum of 15 characters. | Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 STIG SCAP Benchmark

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Assessment Title

Rule Text

RHEL 8 passwords for new users must have a minimum of 15 characters.

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 increase exponentially the time and/or resources required to compromise the password. The DoW minimum password requirement is 15 characters.

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

IA Controls

NIST SP 800-53

Not mappedCCI-000205Not mappedCCI-004066

References

DPMS Target Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 DISA DPMS Target Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 2921

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.rhel8os:def:230370
# RHEL 8 passwords for new users must have a minimum of 15 characters.
# Per-module read mechanism curated from static teardown of DISA's SCC tool
# (SCAP Compliance Checker) -- see the SCC Automation Reference above.

# /etc/login.defs: PASS_MIN_LEN = 15 or greater
# textfilecontent54_object (textfilecontent54_test)
test_1() {
  [ "$(sed -En 's/^\s*PASS_MIN_LEN\s+(\d+)\s*$/\1/p' '/etc/login.defs')" -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.rhel8os:def:230370

if grep -qE '^\\s*PASS_MIN_LEN\\s+15\\s*$' /etc/login.defs; then
  echo "PASS"
  exit 0
else
  echo "FAIL"
  exit 1
fi

Remediation

Configure operating system to enforce a minimum 15-character password length for new user accounts.

Add, or modify the following line in the "/etc/login.defs" file:

PASS_MIN_LEN 15