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The Cisco switch must be configured to enforce a minimum 15-character password length.


Overview

Finding ID Version Rule ID IA Controls Severity
V-220589 CISC-ND-000550 SV-220589r521267_rule Medium
Description
Password complexity, or strength, is a measure of the effectiveness of a password in resisting attempts at guessing and brute-force attacks. Password length is one factor of several that helps to determine strength and how long it takes to crack a password. The shorter the password, the lower the number of possible combinations that need to be tested before the password is compromised. Use of more characters in a password helps to exponentially increase the time and/or resources required to compromise the password.
STIG Date
Cisco IOS Switch NDM Security Technical Implementation Guide 2022-06-09

Details

Check Text ( C-22304r507813_chk )
Review the Cisco switch configuration to verify that it enforces a minimum 15-character password length as shown in the example below:

aaa new-model
!
!
aaa common-criteria policy PASSWORD_POLICY
min-length 15

If the Cisco switch is not configured to enforce a minimum 15-character password length, this is a finding.
Fix Text (F-22293r507814_fix)
Configure the Cisco switch to enforce a minimum 15-character password length as shown in the example below:

SW1(config)#aaa common-criteria policy PASSWORD_POLICY
SW1(config-cc-policy)#min-length 15
SW1(config-cc-policy)#exit