The Oracle Linux operating system must not allow accounts configured with blank or null passwords.
An XCCDF Rule
Description
<VulnDiscussion>If an account has an empty password, anyone could log on and run commands with the privileges of that account. Accounts with empty passwords should never be used in operational environments.</VulnDiscussion><FalsePositives></FalsePositives><FalseNegatives></FalseNegatives><Documentable>false</Documentable><Mitigations></Mitigations><SeverityOverrideGuidance></SeverityOverrideGuidance><PotentialImpacts></PotentialImpacts><ThirdPartyTools></ThirdPartyTools><MitigationControl></MitigationControl><Responsibility></Responsibility><IAControls></IAControls>
- ID
- SV-221687r991589_rule
- Severity
- High
- References
- Updated
Remediation - Manual Procedure
If an account is configured for password authentication but does not have an assigned password, it may be possible to log on to the account without authenticating.
Remove any instances of the "nullok" option in "/etc/pam.d/system-auth" and "/etc/pam.d/password-auth" to prevent logons with empty passwords.
Note: Per requirement OL07-00-010199, Oracle Linux 7 must be configured to not overwrite custom authentication configuration settings while using the authconfig utility, otherwise manual changes to the listed files will be overwritten whenever the authconfig utility is used.