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

Related Frameworks

4 paths across 3 frameworks

NIST 800-531 mapping

CM-6

1.00

DISA · 2 · disa_xccdf · related
DISA · 2025-01-23 · disa_cci_list · equivalent

NIST 800-1712 mappings

3.4.1

1.00

DISA · 2 · disa_xccdf · related
DISA · 2025-01-23 · disa_cci_list · equivalent
NIST · Rev 2 (Feb 2020, errata Jan 2021) · nist_800_171_app_d · equivalent

3.4.2

1.00

DISA · 2 · disa_xccdf · related
DISA · 2025-01-23 · disa_cci_list · equivalent
NIST · Rev 2 (Feb 2020, errata Jan 2021) · nist_800_171_app_d · equivalent

CCI1 mapping

CCI-000366

1.00

DISA · 2 · disa_xccdf · related

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