The Photon operating system must persist lockouts between system reboots.
Overview
| Finding ID | Version | Rule ID | IA Controls | Severity |
| V-258862 | PHTN-40-000196 | SV-258862r933647_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-force attacks, is reduced. Limits are imposed by locking the account. By default, account lockout information is stored under /var/run/faillock and is not persistent between reboots. | ||||
| STIG | Date | |||
| VMware vSphere 8.0 vCenter Appliance Photon OS 4.0 Security Technical Implementation Guide | 2023-10-29 | |||
Details
Check Text (C-258862r933647_chk)
At the command line, run the following command to verify account locking persists lockouts between system reboots:
# grep '^dir' /etc/security/faillock.conf
Example result:
dir = /var/log/faillock
If the "dir" option is set to "/var/run/faillock", this is a finding.
If the "dir" option is not set to a persistent documented faillock directory, is missing or commented out, this is a finding.
Note: If faillock.conf is not used to configure pam_faillock.so then these options may be specified on the faillock lines in the system-auth and system-account files.
Fix Text (F-62511r933646_fix)
Navigate to and open:
/etc/security/faillock.conf
Add or update the following lines:
dir = /var/log/faillock
Note: On vCenter appliances, the equivalent file must be edited under "/etc/applmgmt/appliance", if one exists, for the changes to persist after a reboot.