RHEL 9 must require the maximum number of repeating characters be limited to three when passwords are changed.
An XCCDF Rule
Description
<VulnDiscussion>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 a password, the greater the number of possible combinations that need to be tested before the password is compromised.</VulnDiscussion><FalsePositives></FalsePositives><FalseNegatives></FalseNegatives><Documentable>false</Documentable><Mitigations></Mitigations><SeverityOverrideGuidance></SeverityOverrideGuidance><PotentialImpacts></PotentialImpacts><ThirdPartyTools></ThirdPartyTools><MitigationControl></MitigationControl><Responsibility></Responsibility><IAControls></IAControls>
- ID
- SV-258114r1015113_rule
- Severity
- Medium
- References
- Updated
Remediation - Manual Procedure
Configure RHEL 9 to require the change of the number of repeating consecutive characters when passwords are changed by setting the "maxrepeat" option.
Add the following line to "/etc/security/pwquality.conf" (or modify the line to have the required value):
maxrepeat = 3