RHEL 9 must maintain an account lock until the locked account is released by an administrator.
Overview
| Finding ID | Version | Rule ID | IA Controls | Severity |
| V-258057 | RHEL-09-411090 | SV-258057r1045146_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-258057r1045146_chk)
Verify RHEL 9 is configured to lock an account until released by an administrator after three unsuccessful logon attempts with the command:
$ sudo grep -w unlock_time /etc/security/faillock.conf
unlock_time = 0
If the "unlock_time" option is not set to "0" or the line is missing or commented out, this is a finding.
Fix Text (F-61722r1045145_fix)
Configure RHEL 9 to lock an account until released by an administrator after three unsuccessful logon attempts with the command:
$ sudo authselect enable-feature with-faillock
Edit the "/etc/security/faillock.conf" file as follows:
unlock_time = 0