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AIX must enforce password complexity by requiring that at least one special character be used.

Overview

Finding IDVersionRule IDIA ControlsSeverity
V-215227AIX7-00-001130SV-215227r1009543_ruleCCI-004066medium
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 in determining 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. Special characters are those characters that are not alphanumeric. Examples include: ~ ! @ # $ % ^ *.
STIGDate
IBM AIX 7.x Security Technical Implementation Guide2026-06-15

Related Frameworks

2 mappings across 4 frameworks
SCF0 mappings

No source states a mapping between these directly.

Also reachable in 3 hops (3) derived by us, not asserted by any source

Each of these is a route we composed by chaining published mappings. No publisher states a relationship between the two endpoints.

IAC-10Authenticator Management
0.50
IAC-10.1Password-Based Authentication
0.50
IAC-10.4Automated Support For Password Strength
0.50
NIST 800-530 mappings

No source states a mapping between these directly.

Also reachable in 2 hops (63) derived by us, not asserted by any source

Each of these is a route we composed by chaining published mappings. No publisher states a relationship between the two endpoints.

AC-10Concurrent Session Control
1.00
AC-12Session Termination
1.00
AC-17(10)Authenticate Remote Commands
1.00
AC-2(1)Automated System Account Management
1.00
AC-2(10)Shared and Group Account Credential Change
1.00
AC-2(11)Usage Conditions
1.00
AC-2(2)Automated Temporary and Emergency Account Management
1.00
AC-2(3)Disable Accounts
1.00
AC-2(4)Automated Audit Actions
1.00
AC-3Access Enforcement
1.00

+53 more (top 10 by confidence shown)

NIST 800-1710 mappings

No source states a mapping between these directly.

Also reachable in 3 hops (4) derived by us, not asserted by any source

Each of these is a route we composed by chaining published mappings. No publisher states a relationship between the two endpoints.

3.5.10
1.00
3.5.7
1.00
3.5.8
1.00
3.5.9
1.00
CCI2 mappings
CCI-001619
1.00
CCI-004066
1.00

Details

Check Text (C-215227r1009543_chk)

Run the following command to check the system default value for "minspecialchar" attribute: # lssec -f /etc/security/user -s default -a minspecialchar The above command should yield the following output: default minspecialchar=1 If the default value is "0", or the default value is empty, this is a finding. From the command prompt, run the following command to check "minspecialchar" attribute value for all accounts: # lsuser -a minspecialchar ALL The above command should yield the following output: root minspecialchar=1 user1 minspecialchar=1 user2 minspecialchar=2 user3 minspecialchar=1 If any account has "minspecialchar=0", or the "minspecialchar" value is not set, this is a finding.

Fix Text (F-16423r294133_fix)

From the command prompt, run the following command to set "minspecialchar=1" for the default stanza in "/etc/security/user": # chsec -f /etc/security/user -s default -a minspecialchar=1 Run the following command to re-check "minspecialchar" values for all users: # lsuser -a minspecialchar ALL For each user who has "minspecialchar=0", set its "minspecialchar" to "1" by running the following command from command prompt: # chsec -f /etc/security/user -s [user_name] -a minspecialchar=1