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V-220589

CAT II (Medium)

The Cisco switch must be configured to enforce a minimum 15-character password length.

Rule ID

SV-220589r1015280_rule

STIG

Cisco IOS Switch NDM Security Technical Implementation Guide

Version

V3R7

CCIs

CCI-004066, CCI-000205

Discussion

Password complexity, or strength, is a measure of the effectiveness of a password in resisting attempts at guessing and brute-force attacks. Password length is one factor of several that helps to determine strength and how long it takes to crack a password. The shorter the password, the lower the number of possible combinations that need to be tested before the password is compromised. Use of more characters in a password helps to exponentially increase the time and/or resources required to compromise the password.

Check Content

Review the Cisco switch configuration to verify that it enforces a minimum 15-character password length as shown in the example below:

aaa new-model
!
!
aaa common-criteria policy PASSWORD_POLICY
 min-length 15

If the Cisco switch is not configured to enforce a minimum 15-character password length, this is a finding.

Fix Text

Configure the Cisco switch to enforce a minimum 15-character password length as shown in the example below:

SW1(config)#aaa common-criteria policy PASSWORD_POLICY
SW1(config-cc-policy)#min-length 15
SW1(config-cc-policy)#exit