Ensure PAM Enforces Password Requirements - Minimum Different Categories
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The pam_pwquality module’s minclass parameter controls
requirements for usage of different character classes, or types, of character
that must exist in a password before it is considered valid. For example,
setting this value to three (3) requires that any password must have characters
from at least three different categories in order to be approved. The default
value is zero (0), meaning there are no required classes. There are four
categories available:
* Upper-case characters
* Lower-case characters
* Digits
* Special characters (for example, punctuation)
Modify the minclass setting in /etc/security/pwquality.conf entry
to require 4
differing categories of characters when changing passwords.
Rationale
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 a minimum number of character categories makes password guessing attacks more difficult
by ensuring a larger search space.
Shell script
The following script can be run on the host to remediate the issue.
#!/bin/bash
# Remediation is applicable only in certain platforms
if dpkg-query --show --showformat='${db:Status-Status}\n' 'libpam-runtime' 2>/dev/null | grep -q installed; then
var_password_pam_minclass='4'
# Strip any search characters in the key arg so that the key can be replaced without
# adding any search characters to the config file.
stripped_key=$(sed 's/[\^=\$,;+]*//g' <<< "^minclass")
# shellcheck disable=SC2059
printf -v formatted_output "%s = %s" "$stripped_key" "$var_password_pam_minclass"
# 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 "^minclass\\>" "/etc/security/pwquality.conf"; then
escaped_formatted_output=$(sed -e 's|/|\\/|g' <<< "$formatted_output")
LC_ALL=C sed -i --follow-symlinks "s/^minclass\\>.*/$escaped_formatted_output/gi" "/etc/security/pwquality.conf"
else
if [[ -s "/etc/security/pwquality.conf" ]] && [[ -n "$(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
else
>&2 echo 'Remediation is not applicable, nothing was done'
fi
Ansible playbook
The following playbook can be run with Ansible to remediate the issue.
- name: Gather the package facts
package_facts:
manager: auto
tags:
- NIST-800-53-CM-6(a)
- NIST-800-53-IA-5(1)(a)
- NIST-800-53-IA-5(4)
- NIST-800-53-IA-5(c)
- accounts_password_pam_minclass
- low_complexity
- low_disruption
- medium_severity
- no_reboot_needed
- restrict_strategy
- name: XCCDF Value var_password_pam_minclass # promote to variable
set_fact:
var_password_pam_minclass: !!str 4
tags:
- always
- name: Ensure PAM Enforces Password Requirements - Minimum Different Categories -
Ensure PAM variable minclass is set accordingly
ansible.builtin.lineinfile:
create: true
dest: /etc/security/pwquality.conf
regexp: ^#?\s*minclass
line: minclass = {{ var_password_pam_minclass }}
when: '"libpam-runtime" in ansible_facts.packages'
tags:
- NIST-800-53-CM-6(a)
- NIST-800-53-IA-5(1)(a)
- NIST-800-53-IA-5(4)
- NIST-800-53-IA-5(c)
- accounts_password_pam_minclass
- low_complexity
- low_disruption
- medium_severity
- no_reboot_needed
- restrict_strategy
