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V-268129

CAT II (Medium)

NixOS must require the change of at least 50 percent of the total number of characters when passwords are changed.

Rule ID

SV-268129r1131063_rule

STIG

Anduril NixOS Security Technical Implementation Guide

Version

V1R2

CCIs

CCI-004066

Discussion

Use of a complex password helps to increase the time and resources required to compromise the password. Password complexity, or strength, is a measure of the effectiveness of a password in resisting attempts at guessing and brute-force attacks.

Check Content

Verify NixOS enforces password complexity by requiring that at least 50 percent of the characters are changed with the following command:

$ grep difok /etc/security/pwquality.conf

 difok=8

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

Fix Text

Configure NixOS to enforce password complexity. 

Add the following Nix code to the NixOS Configuration, usually located in /etc/nixos/configuration.nix or /etc/nixos/flake.nix:

environment.etc."/security/pwquality.conf".text = ''
difok=8
'';

Rebuild and switch to the new NixOS configuration:
$ sudo nixos-rebuild switch