Ensure PAM Enforces Password Requirements - Minimum Different Categories

Description

The pam_pwquality module's minclass parameter controls requirements for usage of different character classes, or types, of character that must exist in a password before it is considered valid. For example, setting this value to three (3) requires that any password must have characters from at least three different categories in order to be approved. The default value is zero (0), meaning there are no required classes. There are four categories available:

* Upper-case characters
* Lower-case characters
* Digits
* Special characters (for example, punctuation)

Modify the minclass setting in /etc/security/pwquality.conf entry to require differing categories of characters when changing passwords.

Rationale

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.

Password complexity is one factor of several that determines how long it takes to crack a password. The more complex the password, the greater the number of possible combinations that need to be tested before the password is compromised.

Requiring a minimum number of character categories makes password guessing attacks more difficult by ensuring a larger search space.