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← Back to Canonical Ubuntu 18.04 LTS Security Technical Implementation Guide

V-219180

CAT III (Low)

The Ubuntu operating system must prohibit password reuse for a minimum of five generations.

Rule ID

SV-219180r982201_rule

STIG

Canonical Ubuntu 18.04 LTS Security Technical Implementation Guide

Version

V2R15

CCIs

CCI-000200

Discussion

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 end result is a password that is not changed as per policy requirements.

Check Content

Verify that the Ubuntu operating system prevents passwords from being reused for a minimum of five generations by running the following command:

# grep -i remember /etc/pam.d/common-password

password [success=1 default=ignore] pam_unix.so sha512 shadow remember=5 rounds=5000

If the "remember" parameter value is not greater than or equal to 5, commented out, or not set at all this is a finding.

Fix Text

Configure the Ubuntu operating system prevents passwords from being reused for a minimum of five generations.

Add, or modify the "remember" parameter value to the following line in "/etc/pam.d/common-password" file:

password [success=1 default=ignore] pam_unix.so sha512 shadow remember=5 rounds=5000