SV-230377r1017188: RHEL 8 must prevent the use of dictionary words for passwords. | Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 STIG SCAP Benchmark

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Assessment Title

Rule Text

RHEL 8 must prevent the use of dictionary words for passwords.

Description

Discussion Text

If RHEL 8 allows the user to select passwords based on dictionary words, this increases the chances of password compromise by increasing the opportunity for successful guesses, and brute-force attacks.

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

IA Controls

NIST SP 800-53

Not mappedCCI-000366

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:230377
# RHEL 8 must prevent the use of dictionary words for passwords.
# Per-module read mechanism curated from static teardown of DISA's SCC tool
# (SCAP Compliance Checker) -- see the SCC Automation Reference above.

# passwords must not be dictionary words
# textfilecontent54_object (textfilecontent54_test)
test_1() {
  ( [ "$(sed -En 's/^\s*dictcheck\s*=\s*([-\d]+)\s*(?:#.*)?$/\1/p' '/etc/security/pwquality.conf')" -ne 0 ] ) || ( [ "$(grep -rhP --include='*.conf' '^\s*dictcheck\s*=\s*([-\d]+)\s*(?:#.*)?$' '/etc/security/pwquality.conf.d' | sed -En 's/^\s*dictcheck\s*=\s*([-\d]+)\s*(?:#.*)?$/\1/p')" -ne 0 ] )
}

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:230377
if [ ! -f "/etc/security/pwquality.conf" ]; then echo "PASS"; exit 0; fi
if [ "$(grep -w "^dictcheck\\s*=\\s*1" /etc/security/pwquality.conf | wc -l)" -ge "1" ]; then echo "PASS"; exit 0; else echo "FAIL"; exit 1; fi
if [ ! -d "/etc/pwquality.conf.d" ]; then echo "PASS"; exit 0; fi
for file in /etc/pwquality.conf.d/*.conf; do
    if [ "$(grep -w "^dictcheck\\s*=\\s*1" "$file" | wc -l)" -ge "1" ]; then echo "PASS"; exit 0; fi
done
echo "FAIL"; exit 1

Remediation

Configure RHEL 8 to prevent the use of dictionary words for passwords.

Add or update the following line in the "/etc/security/pwquality.conf" file or a configuration file in the /etc/pwquality.conf.d/ directory to contain the "dictcheck" parameter:

dictcheck=1

Remove any configurations that conflict with the above value.