If multifactor authentication is not available and passwords must be used, the Palo Alto Networks security platform must enforce a minimum 15-character password length.

Severity	Group ID	Group Title	Version	Rule ID	Date	STIG Version
medium	V-228648	SRG-APP-000164-NDM-000252	PANW-NM-000053	SV-228648r1018774_rule	2025-03-12	3

Description
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. The shorter the password, the lower the number of possible combinations that needs to be tested before the password is compromised. Use of more characters in a password helps to exponentially increase the time and/or resources required to compromise the password.

Description

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. The shorter the password, the lower the number of possible combinations that needs to be tested before the password is compromised. Use of more characters in a password helps to exponentially increase the time and/or resources required to compromise the password.

ℹ️ Check
Go to Device >> Setup >> Management. View the "Minimum Password Complexity" window. If the "Minimum Length" field is not "15", this is a finding.

✔️ Fix
Go to Device >> Setup >> Management. In the "Minimum Password Complexity" window, select the "Edit" icon (the gear symbol in the upper-right corner of the pane). In the "Minimum Length" field, enter "15". Check the "Enabled" box, then select "OK". Commit changes by selecting "Commit" in the upper-right corner of the screen. Select "OK" when the confirmation dialog appears.