RHEL 8 must not allow accounts configured with blank or null passwords.
Overview
| Finding ID | Version | Rule ID | IA Controls | Severity |
| V-230380 | RHEL-08-020330 | SV-230380r1069308_rule | CCI-000366 | high |
| Description | ||||
| If an account has an empty password, anyone could log on and run commands with the privileges of that account. Accounts with empty passwords should never be used in operational environments. | ||||
| STIG | Date | |||
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 Security Technical Implementation Guide | 2025-05-14 | |||
Details
Check Text (C-230380r1069308_chk)
To verify that null passwords cannot be used, run the following command:
$ sudo /usr/sbin/sshd -dd 2>&1 | awk '/filename/ {print $4}' | tr -d '\r' | tr '\n' ' ' | xargs sudo grep -iH '^\s*permitemptypasswords'
/etc/ssh/sshd_config:PermitEmptyPasswords no
If "PermitEmptyPasswords" is set to "yes", this is a finding.
If conflicting results are returned, this is a finding.
Fix Text (F-33024r743992_fix)
Edit the following line in "etc/ssh/sshd_config" to prevent logons with empty passwords.
PermitEmptyPasswords no
The SSH daemon must be restarted for the changes to take effect. To restart the SSH daemon, run the following command:
$ sudo systemctl restart sshd.service