OL 9 must enforce password complexity by requiring that at least one special character be used.
Overview
| Finding ID | Version | Rule ID | IA Controls | Severity |
| V-271636 | OL09-00-001120 | SV-271636r1091620_rule | Medium |
| Description |
| Use of a complex password helps to increase the time and resources required to compromise the password. Password complexity, or strength, is a measure of the effectiveness of a password in resisting attempts at guessing and brute-force attacks. Password complexity is one factor of several that determines how long it takes to crack a password. The more complex the password, the greater the number of possible combinations that need to be tested before the password is compromised. OL 9 uses "pwquality" as a mechanism to enforce password complexity. Note that to require special characters without degrading the "minlen" value, the credit value must be expressed as a negative number in "/etc/security/pwquality.conf". |
| STIG | Date |
| Oracle Linux 9 Security Technical Implementation Guide | 2025-05-08 |
Details
| Check Text (C-75686r1091618_chk) |
| Verify that OL 9 enforces password complexity by requiring at least one special character with the following command: $ sudo grep ocredit /etc/security/pwquality.conf /etc/security/pwquality.conf.d/*.conf ocredit = -1 If the value of "ocredit" is a positive number or is commented out, this is a finding. |
| Fix Text (F-75593r1091619_fix) |
| Configure OL 9 to enforce password complexity by requiring at least one special character be used by setting the "ocredit" option. Add the following line to "/etc/security/pwquality.conf" (or modify the line to have the required value): ocredit = -1 |