NixOS must enforce a minimum 15-character password length.
Overview
| Finding ID | Version | Rule ID | IA Controls | Severity |
| V-268134 | ANIX-00-000810 | SV-268134r1131073_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. | ||||
| STIG | Date | |||
| Anduril NixOS Security Technical Implementation Guide | 2025-08-19 | |||
Details
Check Text (C-268134r1131073_chk)
Verify NixOS enforces a minimum 15-character password length with the following command:
$ grep minlen /etc/security/pwquality.conf
minlen=15
If the value of "minlen" is set to less than "15", or is commented out, this is a finding.
Fix Text (F-71961r1131072_fix)
Configure NixOS to enforce password complexity.
Add the following Nix code to the NixOS Configuration, usually located in /etc/nixos/configuration.nix or /etc/nixos/flake.nix:
environment.etc."/security/pwquality.conf".text = ''
minlen=15
'';
Rebuild and switch to the new NixOS configuration:
$ sudo nixos-rebuild switch