Vulnerability Discussion

Limiting the number of logon attempts over a certain time interval reduces the chances that an unauthorized user may gain access to an account.

Check

Verify the SUSE operating system enforces a delay of at least four seconds between logon prompts following a failed logon attempt.

Check that the SUSE operating system enforces a delay of at least four seconds between logon prompts following a failed logon attempt with the following command:

> grep FAIL_DELAY /etc/login.defs
FAIL_DELAY 4

If the value of "FAIL_DELAY" is not set to "4", "FAIL_DELAY" is commented out, or "FAIL_DELAY" is missing, then this is a finding.

Fix

Configure the SUSE operating system to enforce a delay of at least four seconds between logon prompts following a failed logon attempt.

Add or update the following variable in "/etc/login.defs" to match the line below ("FAIL_DELAY" must have a value of "4" or higher):

FAIL_DELAY 4