The SUSE operating system must require the change of at least eight of the total number of characters when passwords are changed.
An XCCDF Rule
Description
<VulnDiscussion>If the SUSE operating system 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-234885r1009624_rule
- Severity
- Medium
- References
- Updated
Remediation - Manual Procedure
Configure the SUSE operating system 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.