OL 8 must not allow accounts configured with blank or null passwords.
Severity | Group ID | Group Title | Version | Rule ID | Date | STIG Version |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| high | V-248714 | SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227 | OL08-00-020330 | SV-248714r991589_rule | 2025-02-20 | 2 |
| Description |
|---|
| If an account has an empty password, anyone could log on and run commands with the privileges of that account. Accounts with empty passwords should never be used in operational environments. |
| ℹ️ Check |
|---|
| To verify that null passwords cannot be used, run the following command: $ sudo /usr/sbin/sshd -dd 2>&1 | awk '/filename/ {print $4}' | tr -d '\r' | tr '\n' ' ' | xargs sudo grep -iH '^\s*permitemptypasswords' PermitEmptyPasswords no If "PermitEmptyPasswords" is set to "yes", this is a finding. If conflicting results are returned, this is a finding. |
| ✔️ Fix |
|---|
| Edit the following line in "etc/ssh/sshd_config" to prevent logons with empty passwords. PermitEmptyPasswords no The SSH daemon must be restarted for the changes to take effect. To restart the SSH daemon, run the following command: $ sudo systemctl restart sshd.service |