RHEL 10 must automatically lock an account when three unsuccessful login attempts occur during a 15-minute time period.
Overview
| Finding ID | Version | Rule ID | IA Controls | Severity |
| V-281196 | RHEL-10-600420 | SV-281196r1166540_rule | CCI-002238 | medium |
| Description | ||||
| By limiting the number of failed login attempts, the risk of unauthorized system access via user password guessing, otherwise known as brute-forcing, is reduced. Limits are imposed by locking the account. Satisfies: SRG-OS-000329-GPOS-00128, SRG-OS-000021-GPOS-00005 | ||||
| STIG | Date | |||
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 Security Technical Implementation Guide | 2026-03-11 | |||
Details
Check Text (C-281196r1166540_chk)
Verify RHEL 10 locks an account after three unsuccessful login attempts within a period of 15 minutes with the following command:
$ sudo grep fail_interval /etc/security/faillock.conf
fail_interval = 900
If the "fail_interval" option is not set to "900" or less (but not "0"), the line is commented out, or the line is missing, this is a finding.
Fix Text (F-85662r1166539_fix)
Configure RHEL 10 to lock out the "root" account after a number of incorrect login attempts within 15 minutes using "pam_faillock.so".
Enable the feature using the following command:
$ authselect enable-feature with-faillock
Edit the "/etc/security/faillock.conf" file as follows:
fail_interval = 900