The Photon operating system must prohibit password reuse for a minimum of five generations.
Overview
| Finding ID | Version | Rule ID | IA Controls | Severity |
| V-256506 | PHTN-30-000029 | SV-256506r982201_rule | Medium |
| Description |
| Password complexity, or strength, is a measure of the effectiveness of a password in resisting attempts at guessing and brute-force attacks. If the information system or application allows the user to consecutively reuse their password when that password has exceeded its defined lifetime, the result is a password that is not changed per policy requirements. |
| STIG | Date |
| VMware vSphere 7.0 vCenter Appliance Photon OS Security Technical Implementation Guide | 2024-12-16 |
Details
| Check Text (C-60181r887190_chk) |
| At the command line, run the following command: # grep pam_pwhistory /etc/pam.d/system-password|grep --color=always "remember=." Expected result: password requisite pam_pwhistory.so enforce_for_root use_authtok remember=5 retry=3 If the output does not include the "remember=5" setting as shown in the expected result, this is a finding. |
| Fix Text (F-60124r887191_fix) |
| Navigate to and open: /etc/pam.d/system-password Add the following line after the "password requisite pam_cracklib.so" statement: password requisite pam_pwhistory.so enforce_for_root use_authtok remember=5 retry=3 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. |