← Back to Solaris 11 x86 Security Technical Implementation Guide

V-216089

CAT II (Medium)

User passwords must be at least 15 characters in length.

Rule ID

SV-216089r603268_rule

STIG

Solaris 11 x86 Security Technical Implementation Guide

Version

V2R10

CCIs

SV-60829

Discussion

Password complexity, or strength, is a measure of the effectiveness of a password in resisting 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 is, the lower the number of possible combinations that need 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.

Check Content

Check the system password length setting.

# grep ^PASSLENGTH /etc/default/passwd

If PASSLENGTH is not set to 15 or more, this is a finding.

Fix Text

The root role is required.

# pfedit /etc/default/passwd 

Locate the line containing:

PASSLENGTH

Change the line to read 

PASSLENGTH=15