OpenControls Logo

STIG Viewer

STIGViewer Support

RHEL 9 password-auth must be configured to use a sufficient number of hashing rounds.

Overview

Finding IDVersionRule IDIA ControlsSeverity
V-258099RHEL-09-611050SV-258099r1045198_ruleCCI-004062medium
Description
Passwords need to be protected at all times, and encryption is the standard method for protecting passwords. If passwords are not encrypted, they can be plainly read (i.e., clear text) and easily compromised. Passwords that are encrypted with a weak algorithm are no more protected than if they are kept in plain text. Using more hashing rounds makes password cracking attacks more difficult. Satisfies: SRG-OS-000073-GPOS-00041, SRG-OS-000120-GPOS-00061
STIGDate
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 Security Technical Implementation Guide2025-05-14

Related Frameworks

3 mappings across 5 frameworks
SCF0 mappings

No source states a mapping between these directly.

Also reachable in 3 hops (10) 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-10Authenticator Management
0.50
IAC-10.1Password-Based Authentication
0.50
IAC-10.4Automated Support For Password Strength
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 (76) 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(1)Monitoring and Control
1.00
AC-17(10)Authenticate Remote Commands
1.00
AC-17(2)Protection of Confidentiality and Integrity Using Encryption
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

+66 more (top 10 by confidence shown)

NIST 800-1710 mappings

No source states a mapping between these directly.

Also reachable in 3 hops (4) 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.

3.5.10
1.00
3.5.7
1.00
3.5.8
1.00
3.5.9
1.00
CCI3 mappings
CCI-000196
1.00
CCI-000803
1.00
CCI-004062
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-258099r1045198_chk)

Verify the number of rounds for the password hashing algorithm is configured with the following command: $ grep rounds /etc/pam.d/password-auth password sufficient pam_unix.so sha512 rounds=100000 If a matching line is not returned or "rounds" is less than "100000", this a finding.

Fix Text (F-61764r1045197_fix)

Configure RHEL 9 to use 100000 hashing rounds for hashing passwords. Add or modify the following line in "/etc/pam.d/password-auth" and set "rounds" to "100000". password sufficient pam_unix.so sha512 rounds=100000 Note: Running authselect will overwrite this value unless a custom authselect policy is created.