DISA STIGS Viewer

The Photon operating system must enforce password complexity by requiring that at least one lowercase character be used.

Overview

Finding ID Version Rule ID IA Controls Severity
V-256499 PHTN-30-000022 SV-256499r982196_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.
STIG Date
VMware vSphere 7.0 vCenter Appliance Photon OS Security Technical Implementation Guide 2024-12-16

Details

Check Text (C-60174r887169_chk)
At the command line, run the following command:

# grep pam_cracklib /etc/pam.d/system-password|grep --color=always "lcredit=.."

Expected result:

password requisite pam_cracklib.so dcredit=-1 ucredit=-1 lcredit=-1 ocredit=-1 minlen=8 minclass=4 difok=4 retry=3 maxsequence=0 enforce_for_root

If the output does not include lcredit= <= -1, this is a finding.
Fix Text (F-60117r887170_fix)
Navigate to and open:

/etc/pam.d/system-password

Add the following, replacing any existing "pam_cracklib.so" line:

password requisite pam_cracklib.so dcredit=-1 ucredit=-1 lcredit=-1 ocredit=-1 minlen=8 minclass=4 difok=4 retry=3 maxsequence=0 enforce_for_root

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.