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RHEL 8 must configure the use of the pam_faillock.so module in the /etc/pam.d/password-auth file.

Overview

Finding IDVersionRule IDIA ControlsSeverity
V-244534RHEL-08-020026SV-244534r1069319_ruleCCI-000044medium
Description
By limiting the number of failed logon attempts, the risk of unauthorized system access via user password guessing, otherwise known as brute-force attacks, is reduced. Limits are imposed by locking the account. In RHEL 8.2 the "/etc/security/faillock.conf" file was incorporated to centralize the configuration of the pam_faillock.so module. Also introduced is a "local_users_only" option that will only track failed user authentication attempts for local users in /etc/passwd and ignore centralized (AD, IdM, LDAP, etc.) users to allow the centralized platform to solely manage user lockout. From "faillock.conf" man pages: Note that the default directory that "pam_faillock" uses is usually cleared on system boot so the access will be reenabled after system reboot. If that is undesirable a different tally directory must be set with the "dir" option. The preauth argument must be used when the module is called before the modules which ask for the user credentials such as the password. Satisfies: SRG-OS-000021-GPOS-00005, SRG-OS-000329-GPOS-00128
STIGDate
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 Security Technical Implementation Guide2026-02-05

Related Frameworks

1 mapping across 5 frameworks
SCF0 mappings

No source states a mapping between these directly.

Also reachable in 3 hops (6) 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
IAC-22Account Lockout
1.00
NIST 800-530 mappings

No source states a mapping between these directly.

Also reachable in 2 hops (56) 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

+46 more (top 10 by confidence shown)

NIST 800-1710 mappings

No source states a mapping between these directly.

Also reachable in 3 hops (1) 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.

3.1.8
1.00
CCI1 mapping
CCI-000044
1.00
NIST CSF 2.00 mappings

No source states a mapping between these directly.

Also reachable in 3 hops (1) 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-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-244534r1069319_chk)

Note: This check applies to RHEL versions 8.2 or newer, if the system is RHEL version 8.0 or 8.1, this check is not applicable. Verify the pam_faillock.so module is present and is listed before the pam.unix.so line in the "/etc/pam.d/password-auth" file: Note: The first field in the output is the line number of the entry $ sudo grep -E -n 'pam_faillock.so|pam_unix.so' /etc/pam.d/password-auth 7:auth required pam_faillock.so preauth silent 11:auth sufficient pam_unix.so 15:auth required pam_faillock.so authfail 19:account required pam_faillock.so 20:account required pam_unix.so 31:password sufficient pam_unix.so sha512 shadow use_authtok 40:session required pam_unix.so If the pam_faillock.so module is not present in the "/etc/pam.d/password-auth" file with the "preauth" line listed before pam_unix.so, this is a finding.

Fix Text (F-47766r743850_fix)

Configure the operating system to include the use of the pam_faillock.so module in the /etc/pam.d/password-auth file. Add/Modify the appropriate sections of the "/etc/pam.d/password-auth" file to match the following lines: Note: The "preauth" line must be listed before pam_unix.so. auth required pam_faillock.so preauth auth required pam_faillock.so authfail account required pam_faillock.so