Ensure PAM Enforces Password Requirements - Minimum Different Characters

An XCCDF Rule

Description

The pam_pwquality module's difok parameter sets the number of characters in a password that must not be present in and old password during a password change.

Modify the difok setting in /etc/security/pwquality.conf to equal to require differing 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 different characters during password changes ensures that newly changed passwords should not resemble previously compromised ones. Note that passwords which are changed on compromised systems will still be compromised, however.

ID: xccdf_org.ssgproject.content_rule_accounts_password_pam_difok
Severity: Medium
References: 1 12 15 16 5

5.6.2.1.1

DSS05.04 DSS05.05 DSS05.07 DSS05.10 DSS06.03 DSS06.10

CCI-000195

4.3.3.2.2 4.3.3.5.1 4.3.3.5.2 4.3.3.6.1 4.3.3.6.2 4.3.3.6.3 4.3.3.6.4 4.3.3.6.5 4.3.3.6.6 4.3.3.6.7 4.3.3.6.8 4.3.3.6.9 4.3.3.7.2 4.3.3.7.4

SR 1.1 SR 1.10 SR 1.2 SR 1.3 SR 1.4 SR 1.5 SR 1.7 SR 1.8 SR 1.9 SR 2.1

A.18.1.4 A.7.1.1 A.9.2.1 A.9.2.2 A.9.2.3 A.9.2.4 A.9.2.6 A.9.3.1 A.9.4.2 A.9.4.3

CM-6(a) IA-5(1)(b) IA-5(4) IA-5(c)

PR.AC-1 PR.AC-6 PR.AC-7

SRG-OS-000072-GPOS-00040

OL07-00-010160

SV-221673r603260_rule
Updated: about 1 year ago

- name: Gather the package facts
  package_facts:
    manager: auto
  tags:
  - CJIS-5.6.2.1.1
  - DISA-STIG-OL07-00-010160  - NIST-800-53-CM-6(a)
  - NIST-800-53-IA-5(1)(b)
  - NIST-800-53-IA-5(4)
  - NIST-800-53-IA-5(c)
  - accounts_password_pam_difok
  - low_complexity
  - low_disruption
  - medium_severity
  - no_reboot_needed
  - restrict_strategy
- name: XCCDF Value var_password_pam_difok # promote to variable
  set_fact:
    var_password_pam_difok: !!str <xccdf-1.2:sub xmlns:xccdf-1.2="http://checklists.nist.gov/xccdf/1.2" idref="xccdf_org.ssgproject.content_value_var_password_pam_difok" use="legacy"/>
  tags:
    - always

- name: Ensure PAM Enforces Password Requirements - Minimum Different Characters -
    Check if /etc/pam.d/system-auth file is present
  ansible.builtin.stat:
    path: /etc/pam.d/system-auth
  register: result_pam_file_present
  when: '"pam" in ansible_facts.packages'
  tags:
  - CJIS-5.6.2.1.1
  - DISA-STIG-OL07-00-010160
  - NIST-800-53-CM-6(a)
  - NIST-800-53-IA-5(1)(b)
  - NIST-800-53-IA-5(4)
  - NIST-800-53-IA-5(c)
  - accounts_password_pam_difok
  - low_complexity
  - low_disruption
  - medium_severity
  - no_reboot_needed
  - restrict_strategy

- name: Ensure PAM Enforces Password Requirements - Minimum Different Characters -
    Check the proper remediation for the system
  block:

  - name: Ensure PAM Enforces Password Requirements - Minimum Different Characters
      - Define the PAM file to be edited as a local fact
    ansible.builtin.set_fact:
      pam_file_path: /etc/pam.d/system-auth

  - name: Ensure PAM Enforces Password Requirements - Minimum Different Characters
      - Check if system relies on authselect tool
    ansible.builtin.stat:
      path: /usr/bin/authselect
    register: result_authselect_present

  - name: Ensure PAM Enforces Password Requirements - Minimum Different Characters
      - Ensure authselect custom profile is used if authselect is present
    block:

    - name: Ensure PAM Enforces Password Requirements - Minimum Different Characters
        - Check integrity of authselect current profile
      ansible.builtin.command:
        cmd: authselect check
      register: result_authselect_check_cmd
      changed_when: false
      failed_when: false

    - name: Ensure PAM Enforces Password Requirements - Minimum Different Characters
        - Informative message based on the authselect integrity check result
      ansible.builtin.assert:
        that:
        - result_authselect_check_cmd.rc == 0
        fail_msg:
        - authselect integrity check failed. Remediation aborted!
        - This remediation could not be applied because an authselect profile was
          not selected or the selected profile is not intact.
        - It is not recommended to manually edit the PAM files when authselect tool
          is available.
        - In cases where the default authselect profile does not cover a specific
          demand, a custom authselect profile is recommended.
        success_msg:
        - authselect integrity check passed

    - name: Ensure PAM Enforces Password Requirements - Minimum Different Characters
        - Get authselect current profile
      ansible.builtin.shell:
        cmd: authselect current -r | awk '{ print $1 }'
      register: result_authselect_profile
      changed_when: false
      when:
      - result_authselect_check_cmd is success

    - name: Ensure PAM Enforces Password Requirements - Minimum Different Characters
        - Define the current authselect profile as a local fact
      ansible.builtin.set_fact:
        authselect_current_profile: '{{ result_authselect_profile.stdout }}'
        authselect_custom_profile: '{{ result_authselect_profile.stdout }}'
      when:
      - result_authselect_profile is not skipped
      - result_authselect_profile.stdout is match("custom/")

    - name: Ensure PAM Enforces Password Requirements - Minimum Different Characters
        - Define the new authselect custom profile as a local fact
      ansible.builtin.set_fact:
        authselect_current_profile: '{{ result_authselect_profile.stdout }}'
        authselect_custom_profile: custom/hardening
      when:
      - result_authselect_profile is not skipped
      - result_authselect_profile.stdout is not match("custom/")

    - name: Ensure PAM Enforces Password Requirements - Minimum Different Characters
        - Get authselect current features to also enable them in the custom profile
      ansible.builtin.shell:
        cmd: authselect current | tail -n+3 | awk '{ print $2 }'
      register: result_authselect_features
      changed_when: false
      when:
      - result_authselect_profile is not skipped
      - authselect_current_profile is not match("custom/")

    - name: Ensure PAM Enforces Password Requirements - Minimum Different Characters
        - Check if any custom profile with the same name was already created
      ansible.builtin.stat:
        path: /etc/authselect/{{ authselect_custom_profile }}
      register: result_authselect_custom_profile_present
      changed_when: false
      when:
      - authselect_current_profile is not match("custom/")

    - name: Ensure PAM Enforces Password Requirements - Minimum Different Characters
        - Create an authselect custom profile based on the current profile
      ansible.builtin.command:
        cmd: authselect create-profile hardening -b {{ authselect_current_profile
          }}
      when:
      - result_authselect_check_cmd is success
      - authselect_current_profile is not match("custom/")
      - not result_authselect_custom_profile_present.stat.exists

    - name: Ensure PAM Enforces Password Requirements - Minimum Different Characters
        - Ensure authselect changes are applied
      ansible.builtin.command:
        cmd: authselect apply-changes -b --backup=before-hardening-custom-profile
      when:
      - result_authselect_check_cmd is success
      - result_authselect_profile is not skipped
      - authselect_current_profile is not match("custom/")
      - authselect_custom_profile is not match(authselect_current_profile)

    - name: Ensure PAM Enforces Password Requirements - Minimum Different Characters
        - Ensure the authselect custom profile is selected
      ansible.builtin.command:
        cmd: authselect select {{ authselect_custom_profile }}
      register: result_pam_authselect_select_profile
      when:
      - result_authselect_check_cmd is success
      - result_authselect_profile is not skipped
      - authselect_current_profile is not match("custom/")
      - authselect_custom_profile is not match(authselect_current_profile)

    - name: Ensure PAM Enforces Password Requirements - Minimum Different Characters
        - Restore the authselect features in the custom profile
      ansible.builtin.command:
        cmd: authselect enable-feature {{ item }}
      loop: '{{ result_authselect_features.stdout_lines }}'
      register: result_pam_authselect_restore_features
      when:
      - result_authselect_profile is not skipped
      - result_authselect_features is not skipped
      - result_pam_authselect_select_profile is not skipped

    - name: Ensure PAM Enforces Password Requirements - Minimum Different Characters
        - Ensure authselect changes are applied
      ansible.builtin.command:
        cmd: authselect apply-changes -b --backup=after-hardening-custom-profile
      when:
      - result_authselect_check_cmd is success
      - result_authselect_profile is not skipped
      - result_pam_authselect_restore_features is not skipped

    - name: Ensure PAM Enforces Password Requirements - Minimum Different Characters
        - Change the PAM file to be edited according to the custom authselect profile
      ansible.builtin.set_fact:
        pam_file_path: /etc/authselect/{{ authselect_custom_profile }}/{{ pam_file_path
          | basename }}
    when:
    - result_authselect_present.stat.exists

  - name: Ensure PAM Enforces Password Requirements - Minimum Different Characters
      - Ensure the "difok" option from "pam_pwquality.so" is not present in {{ pam_file_path
      }}
    ansible.builtin.replace:
      dest: '{{ pam_file_path }}'
      regexp: (.*password.*pam_pwquality.so.*)\bdifok\b=?[0-9a-zA-Z]*(.*)
      replace: \1\2
    register: result_pam_option_removal

  - name: Ensure PAM Enforces Password Requirements - Minimum Different Characters
      - Ensure authselect changes are applied
    ansible.builtin.command:
      cmd: authselect apply-changes -b
    when:
    - result_authselect_present.stat.exists
    - result_pam_option_removal is changed
  when:
  - '"pam" in ansible_facts.packages'
  - result_pam_file_present.stat.exists
  tags:
  - CJIS-5.6.2.1.1
  - DISA-STIG-OL07-00-010160
  - NIST-800-53-CM-6(a)
  - NIST-800-53-IA-5(1)(b)
  - NIST-800-53-IA-5(4)
  - NIST-800-53-IA-5(c)
  - accounts_password_pam_difok
  - low_complexity
  - low_disruption
  - medium_severity
  - no_reboot_needed
  - restrict_strategy

- name: Ensure PAM Enforces Password Requirements - Minimum Different Characters -
    Ensure PAM variable difok is set accordingly
  ansible.builtin.lineinfile:
    create: true
    dest: /etc/security/pwquality.conf
    regexp: ^#?\s*difok
    line: difok = {{ var_password_pam_difok }}
  when: '"pam" in ansible_facts.packages'
  tags:
  - CJIS-5.6.2.1.1
  - DISA-STIG-OL07-00-010160
  - NIST-800-53-CM-6(a)
  - NIST-800-53-IA-5(1)(b)
  - NIST-800-53-IA-5(4)
  - NIST-800-53-IA-5(c)
  - accounts_password_pam_difok
  - low_complexity
  - low_disruption
  - medium_severity
  - no_reboot_needed
  - restrict_strategy

# Remediation is applicable only in certain platforms
if rpm --quiet -q pam; then

var_password_pam_difok='<xccdf-1.2:sub xmlns:xccdf-1.2="http://checklists.nist.gov/xccdf/1.2" idref="xccdf_org.ssgproject.content_value_var_password_pam_difok" use="legacy"/>'




if [ -e "/etc/pam.d/system-auth" ] ; then
    PAM_FILE_PATH="/etc/pam.d/system-auth"
    if [ -f /usr/bin/authselect ]; then
        
        if ! authselect check; then
        echo "
        authselect integrity check failed. Remediation aborted!
        This remediation could not be applied because an authselect profile was not selected or the selected profile is not intact.
        It is not recommended to manually edit the PAM files when authselect tool is available.
        In cases where the default authselect profile does not cover a specific demand, a custom authselect profile is recommended."
        exit 1
        fi

        CURRENT_PROFILE=$(authselect current -r | awk '{ print $1 }')
        # If not already in use, a custom profile is created preserving the enabled features.
        if [[ ! $CURRENT_PROFILE == custom/* ]]; then
            ENABLED_FEATURES=$(authselect current | tail -n+3 | awk '{ print $2 }')
            authselect create-profile hardening -b $CURRENT_PROFILE
            CURRENT_PROFILE="custom/hardening"
            
            authselect apply-changes -b --backup=before-hardening-custom-profile
            authselect select $CURRENT_PROFILE
            for feature in $ENABLED_FEATURES; do
                authselect enable-feature $feature;
            done
            
            authselect apply-changes -b --backup=after-hardening-custom-profile
        fi
        PAM_FILE_NAME=$(basename "/etc/pam.d/system-auth")
        PAM_FILE_PATH="/etc/authselect/$CURRENT_PROFILE/$PAM_FILE_NAME"

        authselect apply-changes -b
    fi
    
if grep -qP '^\s*password\s.*\bpam_pwquality.so\s.*\bdifok\b' "$PAM_FILE_PATH"; then
    sed -i -E --follow-symlinks 's/(.*password.*pam_pwquality.so.*)\bdifok\b=?[[:alnum:]]*(.*)/\1\2/g' "$PAM_FILE_PATH"
fi
    if [ -f /usr/bin/authselect ]; then
        
        authselect apply-changes -b
    fi
else
    echo "/etc/pam.d/system-auth was not found" >&2
fi


# Strip any search characters in the key arg so that the key can be replaced without
# adding any search characters to the config file.
stripped_key=$(sed 's/[\^=\$,;+]*//g' <<< "^difok")

# shellcheck disable=SC2059
printf -v formatted_output "%s = %s" "$stripped_key" "$var_password_pam_difok"

# If the key exists, change it. Otherwise, add it to the config_file.
# We search for the key string followed by a word boundary (matched by \>),
# so if we search for 'setting', 'setting2' won't match.
if LC_ALL=C grep -q -m 1 -i -e "^difok\\>" "/etc/security/pwquality.conf"; then
    escaped_formatted_output=$(sed -e 's|/|\\/|g' <<< "$formatted_output")
    LC_ALL=C sed -i --follow-symlinks "s/^difok\\>.*/$escaped_formatted_output/gi" "/etc/security/pwquality.conf"
else
    if [[ -s "/etc/security/pwquality.conf" ]] && [[ -n "$(tail -c 1 -- "/etc/security/pwquality.conf" || true)" ]]; then
        LC_ALL=C sed -i --follow-symlinks '$a'\\ "/etc/security/pwquality.conf"
    fi
    printf '%s\n' "$formatted_output" >> "/etc/security/pwquality.conf"
fi

else
    >&2 echo 'Remediation is not applicable, nothing was done'
fi

Ensure PAM Enforces Password Requirements - Minimum Different Characters

Description

Rationale

Remediation - Ansible

Remediation - Shell Script