The Photon operating system must use the "pam_cracklib" module.

Severity	Group ID	Group Title	Version	Rule ID	Date	STIG Version
medium	V-256541	SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00225	PHTN-30-000071	SV-256541r991587_rule	2024-12-16	1

Description
If the operating system allows the user to select passwords based on dictionary words, this increases the chances of password compromise by increasing the opportunity for successful guesses and brute-force attacks.

ℹ️ Check
At the command line, run the following command: # grep pam_cracklib /etc/pam.d/system-password If the output does not return at least "password requisite pam_cracklib.so", this is a finding.

✔️ Fix
Navigate to and open: /etc/pam.d/system-password Add the following, replacing any existing "pam_cracklib.so" line: password requisite pam_cracklib.so dcredit=-1 ucredit=-1 lcredit=-1 ocredit=-1 minlen=8 minclass=4 difok=4 retry=3 maxsequence=0 enforce_for_root Note: On vCenter appliances, the equivalent file must be edited under "/etc/applmgmt/appliance", if one exists, for the changes to persist after a reboot.

✔️ Fix

Navigate to and open: /etc/pam.d/system-password Add the following, replacing any existing "pam_cracklib.so" line: password requisite pam_cracklib.so dcredit=-1 ucredit=-1 lcredit=-1 ocredit=-1 minlen=8 minclass=4 difok=4 retry=3 maxsequence=0 enforce_for_root Note: On vCenter appliances, the equivalent file must be edited under "/etc/applmgmt/appliance", if one exists, for the changes to persist after a reboot.