IBM RACF exit ICHPWX11 for password phrases must be installed and properly configured.

An XCCDF Rule

Description

Use of a complex password phrase helps to increase the time and resources required to compromise the password. Password phrase complexity, or strength, is a measure of the effectiveness of a password in resisting attempts at guessing and brute-force attacks. Password phrase complexity is one factor of several that determines how long it takes to crack a password. The more complex the password phrase, the greater the number of possible combinations that need to be tested before the password is compromised.

ID: SV-230210r998382_rule
Version: RACF-ES-000785
Severity: Medium
References: CCI-004066
Updated: about 2 months ago

Remediation Templates

Evaluate the impact associated with implementation of the control option. Develop a plan of action to implement the control option as specified in the example below:

For z/OS release 1.12 through z/OS release 2.1, APARs OA43998 and OA43999 must be applied.

Install exit IRRPHREX according to the following guidelines:
REXX Parameter Setting
Phr_minlen = 15 /* Minimum length */
Phr_maxlen = 100 /* Maximum passphrase length */
numbers = '0123456789' 
letters = 'abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ' 
special = '&*@ :=!-%.#?|-' " 
Phr_allowed_chars = numbers||letters||special 
Phr_leading_blanks = 'no' 
Phr_trailing_blanks = 'no' 
Phr_name_allowed = 'no' 
Phr_name_minlen = 3 
Phr_repeat_chars_chk = 'yes' 
Phr_userid_allowed = 'no' 
Phr_req_types = 4 
Phr_min_unique = Phr_minlen % 2 /* 'Half' of chars must be unique  */  
Phr_min_unique_norm = 'yes' 
Phr_word_unique = 0 
Phr_word_unique_upper = 'yes' 
Phr_word_minlen = 4 
Phr_dict.1 = 'IBM' 
Phr_dict.2 = 'RACF' 
Phr_dict.3 = 'PASSWORD'
Phr_dict.4 = 'PHRASE' 
Phr_dict.5 = 'PASSPHRAS
Phr_dict.6 = 'SECRET' 
Phr_dict.7 = 'IBMUSER' 
Phr_dict.8 = 'SYS1'

Note: RACF exit ICHPHX11 is coded to call a System REXX named IRRPHREX, so the name cannot be changed without a corresponding change to ICHPWX11.

System REXX requires that this exec (IRRPHREX) reside in the REXXLIB concatenation.

Update parameters in IRRPHREX according to table Parameters for RACF IRRPWREX as listed above.

IBM RACF exit ICHPWX11 for password phrases must be installed and properly configured.

Description

Remediation Templates

A Manual Procedure