V-279608

Discussion

If the operating system 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. If the password length is an odd number then number of changed characters must be rounded up. For example, a password length of 15 characters must require the change of at least eight characters.

Check Content

1. Verify Nutanix AOS is configured to require complex passwords using the following command. Note: The values to require for complex passwords is located in "/etc/security/pwquality.conf".

$ sudo grep difok /etc/security/pwquality.conf 
difok = 8

If the value of "difok" is set to less than "8", this is a finding.

2. Verify Nutanix AOS is configured to require complex passwords using the following command.

$ sudo grep minclass /etc/security/pwquality.conf 
minclass = 4

If the value of "minclass" is set to less than "4", this is a finding.

3. Verify Nutanix AOS is configured to require complex passwords using the following command.

$ sudo grep maxrepeat /etc/security/pwquality.conf 
maxrepeat = 2

If the value of "maxrepeat" is set to more than "2", this is a finding.

4. Verify Nutanix AOS is configured to require complex passwords using the following command.

$ sudo grep maxclassrepeat /etc/security/pwquality.conf 
maxclassrepeat = 4

If the value of "maxclassrepeat" is set to more than "4", this is a finding.