RHEL 9 must automatically lock an account when three unsuccessful logon attempts occur during a 15-minute time period.
Overview
| Finding ID | Version | Rule ID | IA Controls | Severity |
| V-258056 | RHEL-09-411085 | SV-258056r1045143_rule | CCI-000044 | medium |
| Description | ||||
| By limiting the number of failed logon 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 9 Security Technical Implementation Guide | 2025-05-14 | |||
Details
Check Text (C-258056r1045143_chk)
Note: If the system administrator demonstrates the use of an approved centralized account management method that locks an account after three unsuccessful logon attempts within a period of 15 minutes, this requirement is Not Applicable.
Verify RHEL 9 locks an account after three unsuccessful logon 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-61721r1045142_fix)
To configure RHEL 9 to lock out the "root" account after a number of incorrect logon attempts within 15 minutes using "pam_faillock.so", enable the feature using the following command:
$ sudo authselect enable-feature with-faillock
Then edit the "/etc/security/faillock.conf" file as follows:
fail_interval = 900