SLEM 5 must require the change of at least eight of the total number of characters when passwords are changed.
An XCCDF Rule
Description
<VulnDiscussion>If SLEM 5 allows the user to consecutively reuse extensive portions of passwords, this increases the chances of password compromise by increasing the window of opportunity for attempts at guessing and brute-force attacks.</VulnDiscussion><FalsePositives></FalsePositives><FalseNegatives></FalseNegatives><Documentable>false</Documentable><Mitigations></Mitigations><SeverityOverrideGuidance></SeverityOverrideGuidance><PotentialImpacts></PotentialImpacts><ThirdPartyTools></ThirdPartyTools><MitigationControl></MitigationControl><Responsibility></Responsibility><IAControls></IAControls>
- ID
- SV-261383r996580_rule
- Severity
- Medium
- References
- Updated
Remediation - Manual Procedure
Configure SLEM 5 to require at least eight characters be changed between the old and new passwords during a password change with the following command:
Edit "/etc/pam.d/common-password" and edit the line containing "pam_cracklib.so" to contain the option "difok=8" after the third column.