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V-255507

CAT II (Medium)

If multifactor authentication is not supported and passwords must be used, the CA API Gateway must require that when a password is changed, the characters are changed in at least 8 of the positions within the password.

Rule ID

SV-255507r984101_rule

STIG

CA API Gateway NDM Security Technical Implementation Guide

Version

V1R2

CCIs

CCI-000195

Discussion

If the application allows the user to consecutively reuse extensive portions of passwords, this increases the chances of password compromise by increasing the window of opportunity for attempts at guessing and brute-force attacks. The number of changed characters refers to the number of changes required with respect to the total number of positions in the current password. In other words, characters may be the same within the two passwords; however, the positions of the like characters must be different.

Check Content

Verify the password attribute "difok" field is set to "8" in the following files: 

-- /etc/pam.d/password-auth
-- /etc/pam.d/password-auth-ac

If the password attribute "difok" field is not set to "8" in these files, this is a finding.

Fix Text

Set the password attribute "difok" field is set to "8" in the following files: 

-- /etc/pam.d/password-auth
-- /etc/pam.d/password-auth-ac