SV-258099r1045198: RHEL 9 password-auth must be configured to use a sufficient number of hashing rounds. | Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 STIG SCAP Benchmark

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Assessment Title

Rule Text

RHEL 9 password-auth must be configured to use a sufficient number of hashing rounds.

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 that are encrypted with a weak algorithm are no more protected than if they are kept in plain text. Using more hashing rounds makes password cracking attacks more difficult. Satisfies: SRG-OS-000073-GPOS-00041, SRG-OS-000120-GPOS-00061

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

IA Controls

NIST SP 800-53

Not mappedCCI-004062Not mappedCCI-000803Not mappedCCI-000196

References

DPMS Target Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 DISA DPMS Target Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 5551

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.rhel9os:def:258099
# RHEL 9 password-auth must be configured to use a sufficient number of hashing rounds.
# Per-module read mechanism curated from static teardown of DISA's SCC tool
# (SCAP Compliance Checker) -- see the SCC Automation Reference above.

# The pam_unix module is included in password-auth and configured for 100000 or more rounds.
# textfilecontent54_object (textfilecontent54_test)
test_1() {
  [ "$(sed -En 's/^\s*password\s+sufficient\s+pam_unix\.so\s+[^#\n]*\brounds=(\d+)\b/\1/p' '/etc/pam.d/password-auth')" -ge 100000 ]
}

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.rhel9os:def:258099

if [ ! -f "/etc/pam.d/password-auth" ]; then
  echo "PASS"
  exit 0
fi

if grep -qE '^\\s*password\\s+sufficient\\s+pam_unix\\.so\\s+[^#\\n]*\\brounds=(\\d+)\\b' /etc/pam.d/password-auth | awk -F'= ' '{if ($2 >= 100000) print "PASS"; else print "FAIL"}' > /dev/null; then
  echo "PASS"
else
  echo "FAIL"
fi
exit 0

Remediation

Configure RHEL 9 to use 100000 hashing rounds for hashing passwords.

Add or modify the following line in "/etc/pam.d/password-auth" and set "rounds" to "100000".

password sufficient pam_unix.so sha512 rounds=100000

Note: Running authselect will overwrite this value unless a custom authselect policy is created.