When passwords are changed a minimum of four character classes must be changed.

Overview

Finding ID	Version	Rule ID	IA Controls	Severity
V-71913	RHEL-07-010170	SV-86537r1_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.

STIG	Date
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Security Technical Implementation Guide	2017-12-14

Details

Check Text ( C-72145r1_chk )
The "minclass" option sets the minimum number of required classes of characters for the new password (digits, upper-case, lower-case, others). Check for the value of the "minclass" option in "/etc/security/pwquality.conf" with the following command: # grep minclass /etc/security/pwquality.conf minclass = 4 If the value of "minclass" is set to less than "4", this is a finding.

Fix Text (F-78265r1_fix)
Configure the operating system to require the change of at least four character classes when passwords are changed by setting the "minclass" option. Add the following line to "/etc/security/pwquality.conf conf" (or modify the line to have the required value): minclass = 4