Vulnerability Discussion

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.

Check

Verify that AlmaLinux OS 9 enforces password complexity by requiring at least one lowercase character with the following command:

$ grep -r lcredit /etc/security/pwquality.conf*

/etc/security/pwquality.conf.d/stig.conf:lcredit = -1

If the value of "lcredit" is a positive number, is not set, is commented out, or if conflicting results are returned, this is a finding.

Fix

Configure AlmaLinux OS 9 to enforce password complexity by requiring at least one lowercase character be used by setting the "lcredit" 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:

lcredit = -1

Remove any configurations that conflict with the above value.