The SUSE operating system must lock an account after three consecutive invalid access attempts.
An XCCDF Rule
Description
<VulnDiscussion>By limiting the number of failed access 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. The pam_tally2.so module maintains a count of attempted accesses. This includes user name entry into a logon field as well as password entry. With counting access attempts, it is possible to lock an account without presenting a password into the password field. This should be taken into consideration as it poses as an avenue for denial of service.</VulnDiscussion><FalsePositives></FalsePositives><FalseNegatives></FalseNegatives><Documentable>false</Documentable><Mitigations></Mitigations><SeverityOverrideGuidance></SeverityOverrideGuidance><PotentialImpacts></PotentialImpacts><ThirdPartyTools></ThirdPartyTools><MitigationControl></MitigationControl><Responsibility></Responsibility><IAControls></IAControls>
- ID
- SV-217114r603262_rule
- Severity
- Medium
- References
- Updated
Remediation - Manual Procedure
Configure the operating system to lock an account when three unsuccessful access attempts occur.
Modify the first line of the auth section "/etc/pam.d/common-auth" file to match the following lines:
auth required pam_tally2.so onerr=fail silent audit deny=3