Vulnerability Discussion

Passwords need to be protected at all times, and encryption is the standard method for protecting passwords. If passwords are not encrypted, they can be plainly read (i.e., clear text) and easily compromised.

Check

Verify the SUSE operating system configures the Linux PAM to only store encrypted representations of passwords. All account passwords must be hashed with SHA512 encryption strength.

Check that PAM is configured to create SHA512 hashed passwords by running the following command:

> grep pam_unix.so /etc/pam.d/common-password
password required pam_unix.so sha512

If the command does not return anything or the returned line is commented out, has a second column value different from "required", or does not contain "sha512", this is a finding.

Fix

Configure the SUSE operating system Linux PAM to only store encrypted representations of passwords. All account passwords must be hashed with SHA512 encryption strength.

Edit "/etc/pam.d/common-password" and edit the line containing "pam_unix.so" to contain the SHA512 keyword after third column. Remove the "nullok" option.