Vulnerability Discussion

The shorter the password, the lower the number of possible combinations that need to be tested before the password is compromised.

Password complexity, or strength, is a measure of the effectiveness of a password in resisting attempts at guessing and brute-force attacks. Password length is one factor of several that helps to determine strength and how long it takes to crack a password. Use of more characters in a password helps to exponentially increase the time and/or resources required to compromise the password.

The shorter the password, the lower the number of possible combinations that need to be tested before the password is compromised.

Password complexity, or strength, is a measure of the effectiveness of a password in resisting attempts at guessing and brute-force attacks. Password length is one factor of several that helps to determine strength and how long it takes to crack a password. Use of more characters in a password helps to exponentially increase the time and/or resources required to compromise the password.

Check

Verify that AlmaLinux OS 9 enforces a minimum 15-character password length for new user accounts by running the following command:

$ grep PASS_MIN_LEN /etc/login.defs

PASS_MIN_LEN 15

If the "PASS_MIN_LEN" parameter value is less than "15", is not set, or is commented out, this is a finding.

Fix

Configure AlmaLinux OS 9 to enforce a minimum 15-character password length for new user accounts.

Modify the "/etc/login.defs" file to set the "PASS_MIN_LEN" parameter to 15 or greater:

PASS_MIN_LEN 15