To configure the number of retry prompts that are permitted per-session:
Edit the /etc/security/pwquality.conf to include
retry=, or a lower value if site
policy is more restrictive. The DoD requirement is a maximum of 3 prompts
per session.
Rationale
Setting the password retry prompts that are permitted on a per-session basis to a low value
requires some software, such as SSH, to re-connect. This can slow down and
draw additional attention to some types of password-guessing attacks. Note that this
is different from account lockout, which is provided by the pam_faillock module.
ISA-62443-2-1-2009, Security for Industrial Automation and Control Systems Part 2-1: Establishing an Industrial Automation and Control Systems Security Program
- name: Gather the package facts
package_facts:
manager: auto
tags:
- CJIS-5.5.3
- DISA-STIG-OL08-00-020102
- DISA-STIG-OL08-00-020103
- DISA-STIG-OL08-00-020104
- NIST-800-53-AC-7(a)
- NIST-800-53-CM-6(a)
- NIST-800-53-IA-5(4)
- accounts_password_pam_retry
- configure_strategy
- low_complexity
- medium_disruption
- medium_severity
- no_reboot_needed
- name: XCCDF Value var_password_pam_retry # promote to variable
set_fact:
var_password_pam_retry: !!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_retry" use="legacy"/>
tags:
- always
- name: Ensure PAM variable retry is set accordingly
ansible.builtin.lineinfile:
create: true
dest: /etc/security/pwquality.conf
regexp: ^\s*retry
line: retry = {{ var_password_pam_retry }}
when: '"pam" in ansible_facts.packages'
tags:
- CJIS-5.5.3
- DISA-STIG-OL08-00-020102
- DISA-STIG-OL08-00-020103
- DISA-STIG-OL08-00-020104
- NIST-800-53-AC-7(a)
- NIST-800-53-CM-6(a)
- NIST-800-53-IA-5(4)
- accounts_password_pam_retry
- configure_strategy
- low_complexity
- medium_disruption
- medium_severity
- no_reboot_needed
- name: Ensure PAM Enforces Password Requirements - Authentication Retry Prompts Permitted
Per-Session - Check if /etc/pam.d/password-auth file is present
ansible.builtin.stat:
path: /etc/pam.d/password-auth
register: result_pam_file_present
when: '"pam" in ansible_facts.packages'
tags:
- CJIS-5.5.3
- DISA-STIG-OL08-00-020102
- DISA-STIG-OL08-00-020103
- DISA-STIG-OL08-00-020104
- NIST-800-53-AC-7(a)
- NIST-800-53-CM-6(a)
- NIST-800-53-IA-5(4)
- accounts_password_pam_retry
- configure_strategy
- low_complexity
- medium_disruption
- medium_severity
- no_reboot_needed
- name: Ensure PAM Enforces Password Requirements - Authentication Retry Prompts Permitted
Per-Session - Check the proper remediation for the system
block:
- name: Ensure PAM Enforces Password Requirements - Authentication Retry Prompts
Permitted Per-Session - Define the PAM file to be edited as a local fact
ansible.builtin.set_fact:
pam_file_path: /etc/pam.d/password-auth
- name: Ensure PAM Enforces Password Requirements - Authentication Retry Prompts
Permitted Per-Session - Check if system relies on authselect tool
ansible.builtin.stat:
path: /usr/bin/authselect
register: result_authselect_present
- name: Ensure PAM Enforces Password Requirements - Authentication Retry Prompts
Permitted Per-Session - Ensure authselect custom profile is used if authselect
is present
block:
- name: Ensure PAM Enforces Password Requirements - Authentication Retry Prompts
Permitted Per-Session - 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 - Authentication Retry Prompts
Permitted Per-Session - 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 - Authentication Retry Prompts
Permitted Per-Session - 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 - Authentication Retry Prompts
Permitted Per-Session - 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 - Authentication Retry Prompts
Permitted Per-Session - 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 - Authentication Retry Prompts
Permitted Per-Session - 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 - Authentication Retry Prompts
Permitted Per-Session - 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 - Authentication Retry Prompts
Permitted Per-Session - 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 - Authentication Retry Prompts
Permitted Per-Session - 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 - Authentication Retry Prompts
Permitted Per-Session - 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 - Authentication Retry Prompts
Permitted Per-Session - 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 - Authentication Retry Prompts
Permitted Per-Session - 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 - Authentication Retry Prompts
Permitted Per-Session - 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 - Authentication Retry Prompts
Permitted Per-Session - Ensure the "retry" option from "pam_pwquality.so" is
not present in {{ pam_file_path }}
ansible.builtin.replace:
dest: '{{ pam_file_path }}'
regexp: (.*password.*{{ '.*' | regex_escape() }}.*pam_pwquality.so.*)\bretry\b=?[0-9a-zA-Z]*(.*)
replace: \1\2
register: result_pam_option_removal
- name: Ensure PAM Enforces Password Requirements - Authentication Retry Prompts
Permitted Per-Session - 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-5.5.3
- DISA-STIG-OL08-00-020102
- DISA-STIG-OL08-00-020103
- DISA-STIG-OL08-00-020104
- NIST-800-53-AC-7(a)
- NIST-800-53-CM-6(a)
- NIST-800-53-IA-5(4)
- accounts_password_pam_retry
- configure_strategy
- low_complexity
- medium_disruption
- medium_severity
- no_reboot_needed
- name: Ensure PAM Enforces Password Requirements - Authentication Retry Prompts Permitted
Per-Session - 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-5.5.3
- DISA-STIG-OL08-00-020102
- DISA-STIG-OL08-00-020103
- DISA-STIG-OL08-00-020104
- NIST-800-53-AC-7(a)
- NIST-800-53-CM-6(a)
- NIST-800-53-IA-5(4)
- accounts_password_pam_retry
- configure_strategy
- low_complexity
- medium_disruption
- medium_severity
- no_reboot_needed
- name: Ensure PAM Enforces Password Requirements - Authentication Retry Prompts Permitted
Per-Session - Check the proper remediation for the system
block:
- name: Ensure PAM Enforces Password Requirements - Authentication Retry Prompts
Permitted Per-Session - 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 - Authentication Retry Prompts
Permitted Per-Session - Check if system relies on authselect tool
ansible.builtin.stat:
path: /usr/bin/authselect
register: result_authselect_present
- name: Ensure PAM Enforces Password Requirements - Authentication Retry Prompts
Permitted Per-Session - Ensure authselect custom profile is used if authselect
is present
block:
- name: Ensure PAM Enforces Password Requirements - Authentication Retry Prompts
Permitted Per-Session - 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 - Authentication Retry Prompts
Permitted Per-Session - 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 - Authentication Retry Prompts
Permitted Per-Session - 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 - Authentication Retry Prompts
Permitted Per-Session - 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 - Authentication Retry Prompts
Permitted Per-Session - 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 - Authentication Retry Prompts
Permitted Per-Session - 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 - Authentication Retry Prompts
Permitted Per-Session - 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 - Authentication Retry Prompts
Permitted Per-Session - 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 - Authentication Retry Prompts
Permitted Per-Session - 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 - Authentication Retry Prompts
Permitted Per-Session - 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 - Authentication Retry Prompts
Permitted Per-Session - 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 - Authentication Retry Prompts
Permitted Per-Session - 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 - Authentication Retry Prompts
Permitted Per-Session - 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 - Authentication Retry Prompts
Permitted Per-Session - Ensure the "retry" option from "pam_pwquality.so" is
not present in {{ pam_file_path }}
ansible.builtin.replace:
dest: '{{ pam_file_path }}'
regexp: (.*password.*{{ '.*' | regex_escape() }}.*pam_pwquality.so.*)\bretry\b=?[0-9a-zA-Z]*(.*)
replace: \1\2
register: result_pam_option_removal
- name: Ensure PAM Enforces Password Requirements - Authentication Retry Prompts
Permitted Per-Session - 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-5.5.3
- DISA-STIG-OL08-00-020102
- DISA-STIG-OL08-00-020103
- DISA-STIG-OL08-00-020104
- NIST-800-53-AC-7(a)
- NIST-800-53-CM-6(a)
- NIST-800-53-IA-5(4)
- accounts_password_pam_retry
- configure_strategy
- low_complexity
- medium_disruption
- medium_severity
- no_reboot_needed
Remediation - Shell Script
# Remediation is applicable only in certain platforms
if rpm --quiet -q pam; then
var_password_pam_retry='<xccdf-1.2:sub xmlns:xccdf-1.2="http://checklists.nist.gov/xccdf/1.2" idref="xccdf_org.ssgproject.content_value_var_password_pam_retry" use="legacy"/>'
# 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' <<< "^retry")
# shellcheck disable=SC2059
printf -v formatted_output "%s = %s" "$stripped_key" "$var_password_pam_retry"
# 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 "^retry\\>" "/etc/security/pwquality.conf"; then
escaped_formatted_output=$(sed -e 's|/|\\/|g' <<< "$formatted_output")
LC_ALL=C sed -i --follow-symlinks "s/^retry\\>.*/$escaped_formatted_output/gi" "/etc/security/pwquality.conf"
else
if [[ -s "/etc/security/pwquality.conf" ]] && [[ -n "$(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
if [ -e "/etc/pam.d/password-auth" ] ; then
PAM_FILE_PATH="/etc/pam.d/password-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/password-auth")
PAM_FILE_PATH="/etc/authselect/$CURRENT_PROFILE/$PAM_FILE_NAME"
authselect apply-changes -b
fi
if grep -qP '^\s*password\s+'".*"'\s+pam_pwquality.so\s.*\bretry\b' "$PAM_FILE_PATH"; then
sed -i -E --follow-symlinks 's/(.*password.*'".*"'.*pam_pwquality.so.*)\sretry=?[[:alnum:]]*(.*)/\1\2/g' "$PAM_FILE_PATH"
fi
if [ -f /usr/bin/authselect ]; then
authselect apply-changes -b
fi
else
echo "/etc/pam.d/password-auth was not found" >&2
fi
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+'".*"'\s+pam_pwquality.so\s.*\bretry\b' "$PAM_FILE_PATH"; then
sed -i -E --follow-symlinks 's/(.*password.*'".*"'.*pam_pwquality.so.*)\sretry=?[[:alnum:]]*(.*)/\1\2/g' "$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
else
>&2 echo 'Remediation is not applicable, nothing was done'
fi