RHEL 9 must enforce password complexity by requiring that at least one numeric character be used.
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. Requiring digits makes password guessing attacks more difficult by ensuring a larger search space.
- ID
- SV-258103r1045210_rule
- Version
- RHEL-09-611070
- Severity
- Medium
- References
- Updated
Remediation Templates
A Manual Procedure
Configure RHEL 9 to enforce password complexity by requiring at least one numeric character be used by setting the "dcredit" 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 to contain the "dcredit" parameter:
dcredit = -1