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

Overview

Finding ID	Version	Rule ID	IA Controls	Severity
V-258098	RHEL-09-611045	SV-258098r926281_rule		Medium

Description
Enabling PAM password complexity permits enforcement of strong passwords and consequently makes the system less prone to dictionary attacks.

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

Details

Check Text ( C-61839r926279_chk )
Verify RHEL 9 uses "pwquality" to enforce the password complexity rules in the system-auth file with the following command: $ cat /etc/pam.d/system-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-61763r926280_fix)
Configure RHEL 9 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