IBM z/OS RACF STIG

IBM z/OS RACF Security Technical Implementation Guide

The IBM z/OS RACF Security Technical Implementation Guide (V9 R10) has 224 STIG checks. New to STIG checklists? Read What is a STIG checklist?, CKL vs CKLB, and STIG vs SCAP benchmark.

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Severity

Version

V9 · R10

CurrentPublished Wed Sep 30 2026

IBM RACF exit ICHPWX01 must be installed and properly configured.

IBM z/OS RACF Security Technical Implementation Guide

Assessment Title

Rule Text

IBM RACF exit ICHPWX01 must be installed and properly configured.

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.

Satisfies: SRG-OS-000070-GPOS-00038, SRG-OS-000071-GPOS-00039, SRG-OS-000072-GPOS-00040, SRG-OS-000266-GPOS-00101, SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00225

New to STIG checklists? Read What is a STIG checklist? and CKL vs CKLB.

Objective

V-223725

Rule

SV-223725r998349_rule

Severity

medium

Rule Version

RACF-ES-000780

Documentable

false

IA Controls

NIST SP 800-53

Rev 5

Assessment Procedure

Check Text

From a system console screen, issue the following modify command:
F AXR,IRRPWREX LIST

Review the results of the modify command. 

If the following options are listed, this is not a finding.

-The number of required character types is 4
(ensures that at least one uppercase, one lowercase, one number, and one special character is used in password)

-The user's name cannot be contained in the password.
(Only three consecutive characters of the user's name are allowed)

-The minimum word length checked is eight.

-The user ID cannot be contained in the password.
(Only three consecutive characters of the user ID are allowed)

-Only three unchanged positions of the current password are allowed.
(These positions need to be consecutive to cause a failure and this check is not case sensitive)

-No more than zero pairs of repeating characters are allowed.
(This check is not case sensitive)

-A minimum list of 33 restricted prefix strings is being checked:
APPL APR AUG ASDF BASIC CADAM DEC DEMO FEB FOCUS GAME IBM JAN JUL
JUN LOG MAR MAY NET NEW NOV OCT PASS ROS SEP SIGN SYS TEST TSO
VALID VTAM XXX 1234

If the modify command fails or returns the following message in the system log, this is a finding.

IRX0406E REXX exec load file REXXLIB does not contain exec member IRRPWREX.

Implementation Procedure

Fix Text

Evaluate the impact associated with implementation of the control option. Develop a plan of action to implement the control option as specified in the example below:

For z/OS release 1.12 through z/OS release 2.1 APARs OA43998 and OA43999 must be applied.

Install exit IRRPWREX according to the following guidelines:
REXX Parameter Setting
STIG_Compliant 'yes' 
Pwd_minlen 8
numbers '0123456789'
Lower_letters 'abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz'
Upper_letters 'ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ'
special '$@#.<+|&!*-%_>?:'
Pwd_allowed_chars numbers||Upper_letters||special
Pwd_req_types 4
Pwd_name_allowed 'no'
Pwd_name_minlen 8
Pwd_name_chars 4
Pwd_min_unique 3
Pwd_min_unique_upper 'yes'
Pwd_max_unchanged 3
Pwd_max_unchanged_upper 'yes'
Pwd_max_unchanged_consecutive 'yes'
Pwd_all_unique 'no'
Pwd_no_consecutive 'no'
Pwd_no_consecutive_upper 'yes'
Pwd_min_new 4
Pwd_userID_allowed 'no'
Pwd_userID_chars 4
Pwd_repeat_chars 0
Pwd_repeat_upper 'yes'
Pwd_dict.0 8 /* Change this as words are added and deleted */
Pwd_dict.1 'IBM'
Pwd_dict.2 'RACF'
Pwd_dict.3 'PASSWORD'
Pwd_dict.4 'PHRASE'
Pwd_dict.5 'SECRET'
Pwd_dict.6 'IBMUSER'
Pwd_dict.7 'SYS1'
Pwd_dict.8 '12345678'
Pwd_dict.9 '99999999'
Pwd_prefix.0 33 /* Change this as values are added and deleted
Pwd_prefix.1 'APPL'
Pwd_prefix.2 'APR'
Pwd_prefix.3 'AUG'
Pwd_prefix.4 'ASDF'
Pwd_prefix.5 'BASIC'
Pwd_prefix.6 'CADAM'
Pwd_prefix.7 'DEC'
Pwd_prefix.8 'DEMO'
Pwd_prefix.9 'FEB'
Pwd_prefix.10 'FOCUS'
Pwd_prefix.11 'GAME'
Pwd_prefix.12 'IBM'
Pwd_prefix.13 'JAN'
Pwd_prefix.14 'JUL'
Pwd_prefix.15 'JUN'
Pwd_prefix.16 'LOG'
Pwd_prefix.17 'MAR'
Pwd_prefix.18 'MAY'
Pwd_prefix.19 'NET'
Pwd_prefix.20 'NEW'
Pwd_prefix.21 'NOV'
Pwd_prefix.22 'OCT'
Pwd_prefix.23 'PASS'
Pwd_prefix.24 'ROS'
Pwd_prefix.25 'SEP'
Pwd_prefix.26 'SIGN'
Pwd_prefix.27 'SYS'
Pwd_prefix.28 'TEST'
Pwd_prefix.29 'TSO'
Pwd_prefix.30 'VALID'
Pwd_prefix.31 'VTAM'
Pwd_prefix.32 'XXX'
Pwd_prefix.33 '1234'

Note: RACF exit ICHPWX01 is coded to call a System REXX named IRRPWREX, so the name cannot be changed without a corresponding change to ICHPWX01.

System REXX requires that this exec (IRRPWREX) reside in the REXXLIB concatenation.

Update parameters in IRRPWREX according to table Parameters for RACF IRRPWREX as listed above.

STIG check 75 of 224 in the IBM z/OS RACF STIG checklist

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