Amazon Linux 2023 must enforce a minimum 15-character password length.
Overview
| Finding ID | Version | Rule ID | IA Controls | Severity |
| V-274137 | AZLX-23-002375 | SV-274137r1120725_rule | CCI-004066 | medium |
| Description | ||||
| The shorter the password, the lower the number of possible combinations that need to be tested before the password is compromised. 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. Use of more characters in a password helps to exponentially increase the time and/or resources required to compromise the password. Satisfies: SRG-OS-000078-GPOS-00046, SRG-OS-000725-GPOS-00180 | ||||
| STIG | Date | |||
| Amazon Linux 2023 Security Technical Implementation Guide | 2026-02-27 | |||
Details
Check Text (C-274137r1120725_chk)
Verify Amazon Linux 2023 enforces a minimum 15-character password length with the following command:
$ sudo grep -rs minlen /etc/security/pwquality.conf /etc/security/pwquality.conf.d/*.conf
/etc/security/pwquality.conf: minlen = 15
If the command does not return a "minlen" value of 15 or greater, or the line is commented out, this is a finding.
If conflicting results are returned, this is a finding.
Fix Text (F-78133r1120398_fix)
Configure Amazon Linux 2023 to enforce a minimum 15-character password length.
Add or update the following line in the "/etc/security/pwquality.conf" file or a configuration file in the "/etc/security/pwquality.conf.d/" directory to contain the "minlen" parameter:
minlen = 15
Remove any configurations that conflict with the above value.