AlmaLinux OS 9 must require the change of at least eight characters when passwords are changed.
An XCCDF Rule
Description
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.
- ID
- SV-269397r1050280_rule
- Version
- ALMA-09-037090
- Severity
- Medium
- References
- Updated
Remediation Templates
A Manual Procedure
Configure AlmaLinux OS 9 to require the change of at least eight of the total number of characters when passwords are changed by setting the "difok" option.
Add or update the following line in the "/etc/security/pwquality.conf" file or a configuration file in the "/etc/security/pwquality.conf.d/" directory:
difok = 8
Remove any configurations that conflict with the above value.