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V-269149

CAT II (Medium)

AlmaLinux OS 9 must automatically lock an account when three unsuccessful logon attempts occur during a 15-minute time period.

Rule ID

SV-269149r1184091_rule

STIG

Cloud Linux AlmaLinux OS 9 Security Technical Implementation Guide

Version

V1R6

CCIs

CCI-000044

Discussion

By limiting the number of failed logon attempts, the risk of unauthorized system access via user password guessing, otherwise known as brute-force attacks, is reduced. Limits are imposed by locking the account.

Check Content

Verify AlmaLinux OS 9 locks an account after three unsuccessful logon attempts within a period of 15 minutes with the following command:

$ grep fail_interval /etc/security/faillock.conf

fail_interval = 900

If the "fail_interval" option is not set to 900 or less (but not 0), the line is commented out, or the line is missing, this is a finding.

Fix Text

Configure AlmaLinux OS 9 to lock an account after a number of incorrect login attempts within 15 minutes using pam_faillock.

First, enable the feature using the following command:

$ authselect enable-feature with-faillock

Then, add or uncomment the following line in the "/etc/security/faillock.conf" file:

fail_interval = 900