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V-217134

CAT II (Medium)

The SUSE operating system must prevent the use of dictionary words for passwords.

Rule ID

SV-217134r991587_rule

STIG

SLES 12 Security Technical Implementation Guide

Version

V3R2

CCIs

SV-91819

Discussion

If the SUSE operating system allows the user to select passwords based on dictionary words, this increases the chances of password compromise by increasing the opportunity for successful guesses and brute-force attacks.

Check Content

Verify the SUSE operating system prevents the use of dictionary words for passwords.

Check that the SUSE operating system prevents the use of dictionary words for passwords with the following command:

# grep pam_cracklib.so /etc/pam.d/common-password
password requisite pam_cracklib.so retry=3

If the command does not return anything, or the returned line is commented out, this is a finding.

If the value of "retry" is greater than 3, this is a finding.

Fix Text

Configure the SUSE operating system to prevent the use of dictionary words for passwords.

Edit "/etc/pam.d/common-password" and add the following line:

password requisite pam_cracklib.so retry=3