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AlmaLinux OS 9 must ensure the password complexity module in the system-auth file is configured for three retries or less.

An XCCDF Rule

Description

AlmaLinux OS 9 uses "pwquality" as a mechanism to enforce password complexity. This is set in both: /etc/pam.d/password-auth /etc/pam.d/system-auth By limiting the number of attempts to meet the pwquality module complexity requirements before returning with an error, the system will audit abnormal attempts at password changes.

ID
SV-269387r1050270_rule
Version
ALMA-09-035990
Severity
Medium
References
Updated

Remediation Templates

A Manual Procedure

Configure AlmaLinux OS 9 to limit the "pwquality" retry option to "3".

Add the following line to the "/etc/pam.d/system-auth" and "/etc/pam.d/password-auth" files (or modify the line to have the required value):

password required pam_pwquality.so retry=3