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Set Lockout Time for Failed Password Attempts

An XCCDF Rule

Description

This rule configures the system to lock out accounts during a specified time period after a number of incorrect login attempts using pam_faillock.so. Ensure that the file /etc/security/faillock.conf contains the following entry: unlock_time=<interval-in-seconds> where interval-in-seconds is or greater. pam_faillock.so module requires multiple entries in pam files. These entries must be carefully defined to work as expected. In order to avoid any errors when manually editing these files, it is recommended to use the appropriate tools, such as authselect or authconfig, depending on the OS version. If unlock_time is set to 0, manual intervention by an administrator is required to unlock a user. This should be done using the faillock tool.

warning alert: Warning

If the system supports the new /etc/security/faillock.conf file but the pam_faillock.so parameters are defined directly in /etc/pam.d/system-auth and /etc/pam.d/password-auth, the remediation will migrate the unlock_time parameter to /etc/security/faillock.conf to ensure compatibility with authselect tool. The parameters deny and fail_interval, if used, also have to be migrated by their respective remediation.

warning alert: Warning

If the system relies on authselect tool to manage PAM settings, the remediation will also use authselect tool. However, if any manual modification was made in PAM files, the authselect integrity check will fail and the remediation will be aborted in order to preserve intentional changes. In this case, an informative message will be shown in the remediation report. If the system supports the /etc/security/faillock.conf file, the pam_faillock parameters should be defined in faillock.conf file.

Rationale

By limiting the number of failed logon attempts the risk of unauthorized system access via user password guessing, otherwise known as brute-forcing, is reduced. Limits are imposed by locking the account.

ID
xccdf_org.ssgproject.content_rule_accounts_passwords_pam_faillock_unlock_time
Severity
Medium
References
Updated



Remediation - Ansible

- name: Gather the package facts
  package_facts:
    manager: auto
  tags:
  - CJIS-5.5.3
  - NIST-800-171-3.1.8

Remediation - Shell Script

# Remediation is applicable only in certain platforms
if rpm --quiet -q pam; then

var_accounts_passwords_pam_faillock_unlock_time='<xccdf-1.2:sub xmlns:xccdf-1.2="http://checklists.nist.gov/xccdf/1.2" idref="xccdf_org.ssgproject.content_value_var_accounts_passwords_pam_faillock_unlock_time" use="legacy"/>'