The Photon operating system must store only encrypted representations of passwords.

Overview

Finding ID	Version	Rule ID	IA Controls	Severity
V-256585	PHTN-30-000117	SV-256585r887429_rule		Medium

Description
Passwords must be protected at all times via strong, one-way encryption. If passwords are not encrypted, they can be plainly read (i.e., clear text) and easily compromised. If they are encrypted with a weak cipher, those passwords are much more vulnerable to offline brute-force attacks.

STIG	Date
VMware vSphere 7.0 vCenter Appliance Photon OS Security Technical Implementation Guide	2023-12-01

Details

Check Text ( C-60260r887427_chk )
At the command line, run the following command: # grep password /etc/pam.d/system-password|grep --color=always "sha512" If the output does not include "sha512", this is a finding.

Fix Text (F-60203r887428_fix)
Navigate to and open: /etc/pam.d/system-password Add the argument "sha512" to the "password" line: password required pam_unix.so sha512 shadow try_first_pass Note: On vCenter appliances, the equivalent file must be edited under "/etc/applmgmt/appliance", if one exists, for the changes to persist after a reboot.