IBM zVM CA VM:Secure product PASSWORD user exit must be in use.

Severity	Group ID	Group Title	Version	Rule ID	Date	STIG Version
medium	V-237914	SRG-OS-000078-GPOS-00046	IBMZ-VM-000520	SV-237914r649582_rule	2022-08-31	2

Description
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. Satisfies: SRG-OS-000078-GPOS-00046, SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227, SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227, SRG-OS-000266-GPOS-00101, SRG-OS-000075-GPOS-00043, SRG-OS-000070-GPOS-00038, SRG-OS-000071-GPOS-00039, SRG-OS-000069-GPOS-00037, SRG-OS-000072-GPOS-00040

Description

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. Satisfies: SRG-OS-000078-GPOS-00046, SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227, SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227, SRG-OS-000266-GPOS-00101, SRG-OS-000075-GPOS-00043, SRG-OS-000070-GPOS-00038, SRG-OS-000071-GPOS-00039, SRG-OS-000069-GPOS-00037, SRG-OS-000072-GPOS-00040

ℹ️ Check
If there is no CA VM:Secure PASSWORD user exit in use, this is a finding. Review the CA VM:Secure Password user exit. If there is no code that enforces a minimum 8-character password, this is a finding. If there is no code that prohibits the use of all numbers in the new password, this is a finding. If there is no code that prohibits the use of user name in the new password, this is a finding. If there is no code that prohibits the use of userID in the new password, this is a finding. If there is no code that prohibits the use of consecutive repeated characters, this is a finding. If there is no code requiring that at least one special character be used in the new password, this is a finding. If there is no code that enforces 24 hours/1 day as the minimum password lifetime, this is a finding. If there is no code that enforces a minimum that at least one lowercase character is used in the new password, this is a finding. If there is no code that enforces a minimum that at least one numeric character is used in the new password, this is a finding. If there is no code that enforces a minimum that at least one uppercase character is used in the new password, this is a finding. If there is no code that enforces change of at least 50% of the total number of characters when passwords are changed, this is a finding.

ℹ️ Check

If there is no CA VM:Secure PASSWORD user exit in use, this is a finding. Review the CA VM:Secure Password user exit. If there is no code that enforces a minimum 8-character password, this is a finding. If there is no code that prohibits the use of all numbers in the new password, this is a finding. If there is no code that prohibits the use of user name in the new password, this is a finding. If there is no code that prohibits the use of userID in the new password, this is a finding. If there is no code that prohibits the use of consecutive repeated characters, this is a finding. If there is no code requiring that at least one special character be used in the new password, this is a finding. If there is no code that enforces 24 hours/1 day as the minimum password lifetime, this is a finding. If there is no code that enforces a minimum that at least one lowercase character is used in the new password, this is a finding. If there is no code that enforces a minimum that at least one numeric character is used in the new password, this is a finding. If there is no code that enforces a minimum that at least one uppercase character is used in the new password, this is a finding. If there is no code that enforces change of at least 50% of the total number of characters when passwords are changed, this is a finding.

✔️ Fix
Configure a CA VM:Secure PASSWORD user exit that enforces a minimum 8-character password length. Ensure that the following macros are updated with proper PASSWORD user exit: FORCEPWC VMXCHGPW MAINT USE00080