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The RHEL 8 pam_unix.so module must be configured in the password-auth file to use a FIPS 140-2 approved cryptographic hashing algorithm for system authentication.

Overview

Finding IDVersionRule IDIA ControlsSeverity
V-230237RHEL-08-010160SV-230237r1017056_ruleCCI-000803medium
Description
Unapproved mechanisms that are used for authentication to the cryptographic module are not verified and therefore cannot be relied upon to provide confidentiality or integrity, and DoD data may be compromised. RHEL 8 systems utilizing encryption are required to use FIPS-compliant mechanisms for authenticating to cryptographic modules. FIPS 140-2 is the current standard for validating that mechanisms used to access cryptographic modules utilize authentication that meets DoD requirements. This allows for Security Levels 1, 2, 3, or 4 for use on a general-purpose computing system.
STIGDate
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 Security Technical Implementation Guide2026-02-05

Related Frameworks

1 mapping across 4 frameworks
SCF0 mappings

No source states a mapping between these directly.

Also reachable in 3 hops (7) 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-01.2Authenticate, Authorize and Audit (AAA)
1.00
IAC-02Identification & Authentication for Organizational Users
1.00
IAC-03Identification & Authentication for Non-Organizational Users
1.00
IAC-04Identification & Authentication for Devices
1.00
IAC-05Identification & Authentication for Third-Party Technology Assets, Applications and/or Services (TAAS)
1.00
CRY-02Automated Authentication Through Cryptographic Modules
0.50
IAC-12Cryptographic Module Authentication
0.50
NIST 800-530 mappings

No source states a mapping between these directly.

Also reachable in 2 hops (36) 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-17(1)Monitoring and Control
1.00
AC-17(2)Protection of Confidentiality and Integrity Using Encryption
1.00
AC-2(4)Automated Audit Actions
1.00
AC-3Access Enforcement
1.00
AC-4Information Flow Enforcement
1.00
AC-4(17)Domain Authentication
1.00
AC-6(9)Log Use of Privileged Functions
1.00
AU-12Audit Record Generation
1.00
AU-3Content of Audit Records
1.00
CM-5(1)Automated Access Enforcement and Audit Records
1.00

+26 more (top 10 by confidence shown)

CCI1 mapping
CCI-000803
1.00
NIST CSF 2.00 mappings

No source states a mapping between these directly.

Also reachable in 3 hops (2) 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.

PR.AA-01
1.00
PR.AA-03
1.00

Who does this work

7 NICE work roles and 5 EC-Council certifications.

This is an inference across published mappings, not a single claim by anyone. This check maps to a control, which maps to a Cybersecurity Framework outcome, which NIST assigns to the work roles below. EC-Council separately maps its certifications to those same roles.

A certification prepares someone for a role. It is not evidence that a holder is qualified, and neither NIST nor EC-Council has stated that any certification here addresses this check.

Work-role assignments published by NIST (NICE Framework Components 2.2.0 and the CSF 2.0 OLIR crosswalk). Certification mappings published by EC-Council.

Details

Check Text (C-230237r1017056_chk)

Verify that the pam_unix.so module is configured to use sha512. Check that the pam_unix.so module is configured to use sha512 in /etc/pam.d/password-auth with the following command: $ sudo grep password /etc/pam.d/password-auth | grep pam_unix password sufficient pam_unix.so sha512 If "sha512" is missing, or is commented out, this is a finding.

Fix Text (F-32881r809275_fix)

Configure RHEL 8 to use a FIPS 140-2 approved cryptographic hashing algorithm for system authentication. Edit/modify the following line in the "/etc/pam.d/password-auth" file to include the sha512 option for pam_unix.so: password sufficient pam_unix.so sha512