SV-251713r1262179: RHEL 8 must ensure the password complexity module is enabled in the system-auth file. | Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 STIG SCAP Benchmark

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Assessment Title

Rule Text

RHEL 8 must ensure the password complexity module is enabled in the system-auth file.

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. "pwquality" enforces complex password construction configuration and has the ability to limit brute-force attacks on the system. RHEL 8 uses "pwquality" as a mechanism to enforce password complexity. This is set in both: /etc/pam.d/password-auth /etc/pam.d/system-auth

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:251713
# RHEL 8 must ensure the password complexity module is enabled in the system-auth file.
# Per-module read mechanism curated from static teardown of DISA's SCC tool
# (SCAP Compliance Checker) -- see the SCC Automation Reference above.

# system-auth pam_pwquality
# textfilecontent54_object (textfilecontent54_test)
test_1() {
  (sed -En 's/^\s*password\s+(?:required|requisite)\s+(.*)$/\1/p' '/etc/pam.d/system-auth') | grep -Pq '^pam_pwquality.so(\s|$)'
}

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:251713
if [ ! -f "/etc/pam.d/system-auth" ]; then echo "PASS"; exit 0; fi
if grep -q "^pam_pwquality.so(\\s|$)" /etc/pam.d/system-auth && grep -P "^\\s*password\\s+(?:required|requisite)\\s+.*" /etc/pam.d/system-auth | wc -l | grep -q "^[1-]*$"; then echo "PASS"; exit 0; else echo "FAIL"; exit 1; fi

Remediation

Configure the operating system to use "pwquality" to enforce password complexity rules.

Add the following line to the "/etc/pam.d/system-auth" file (or modify the line to have the required value):

password required pam_pwquality.so