AlmaLinux OS 9 must prevent the use of dictionary words for passwords.

Severity	Group ID	Group Title	Version	Rule ID	Date	STIG Version
medium	V-269242	SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00225	ALMA-09-018390	SV-269242r1050124_rule	2025-02-20	1

Description
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.

Description

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.

ℹ️ Check
Verify AlmaLinux OS 9 prevents the use of dictionary words for passwords with the following command: $ grep -r dictcheck /etc/security/pwquality.conf* /etc/security/pwquality.conf.d/stig.conf:dictcheck = 1 If the value of "dictcheck" is not "1" , is not set, is commented out, or if conflicting results are returned, this is a finding.

✔️ Fix
Configure AlmaLinux OS 9 to prevent the use of dictionary words for passwords. 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: dictcheck = 1 Remove any configurations that conflict with the above value.