RHEL 9 must not allow blank or null passwords.
Overview
| Finding ID | Version | Rule ID | IA Controls | Severity |
| V-258094 | RHEL-09-611025 | SV-258094r1045187_rule | CCI-000366 | high |
| Description | ||||
| If an account has an empty password, anyone could log in 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 9 Security Technical Implementation Guide | 2025-05-14 | |||
Details
Check Text (C-258094r1045187_chk)
Verify that null passwords cannot be used with the following command:
$ sudo grep -i nullok /etc/pam.d/system-auth /etc/pam.d/password-auth
If output is produced, this is a finding.
If the system administrator (SA) can demonstrate that the required configuration is contained in a PAM configuration file included or substacked from the system-auth file, this is not a finding.
Fix Text (F-61759r1045186_fix)
If PAM is managed with authselect, use the following command to remove instances of "nullok":
$ sudo authselect enable-feature without-nullok
Otherwise, remove any instances of the "nullok" option in the "/etc/pam.d/password-auth" and "/etc/pam.d/system-auth" files to prevent logons with empty passwords.
Note: Manual changes to the listed file may be overwritten by the "authselect" program.