RHEL 9 must enforce password complexity by requiring that at least one lowercase character be used.

Overview

Finding ID	Version	Rule ID	IA Controls	Severity
V-258102	RHEL-09-611065	SV-258102r926293_rule		Medium

Description

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. Password complexity is one factor of several that determines how long it takes to crack a password. The more complex the password, the greater the number of possible combinations that need to be tested before the password is compromised. Requiring a minimum number of lowercase characters makes password guessing attacks more difficult by ensuring a larger search space.

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

Details

Check Text ( C-61843r926291_chk )
Verify that RHEL 9 enforces password complexity by requiring at least one lowercase character. Check the value for "lcredit" with the following command: $ sudo grep lcredit /etc/security/pwquality.conf /etc/security/pwquality.conf/*.conf /etc/security/pwquality.conf:lcredit = -1 If the value of "lcredit" is a positive number or is commented out, this is a finding.

Fix Text (F-61767r926292_fix)
Configure RHEL 9 to enforce password complexity by requiring at least one lowercase character be used by setting the "lcredit" option. Add the following line to "/etc/security/pwquality.conf" (or modify the line to have the required value): lcredit = -1