RHEL 9 must ensure the password complexity module is enabled in the password-auth file.

Overview

Finding ID	Version	Rule ID	IA Controls	Severity
V-258097	RHEL-09-611040	SV-258097r926278_rule		Medium

Description
Enabling PAM password complexity permits enforcement of strong passwords and consequently makes the system less prone to dictionary attacks. Satisfies: SRG-OS-000069-GPOS-00037, SRG-OS-000070-GPOS-00038, SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227

STIG	Date
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 Security Technical Implementation Guide	2023-12-01

Details

Check Text ( C-61838r926276_chk )
Verify RHEL 9 uses "pwquality" to enforce the password complexity rules in the password-auth file with the following command: $ cat /etc/pam.d/password-auth | grep pam_pwquality password required pam_pwquality.so If the command does not return a line containing the value "pam_pwquality.so", or the line is commented out, this is a finding.

Fix Text (F-61762r926277_fix)
Configure RHEL 9 to use "pwquality" to enforce password complexity rules. Add the following line to the "/etc/pam.d/password-auth" file (or modify the line to have the required value): password required pam_pwquality.so