Amazon Linux 2023 must automatically lock an account until the locked account is released by an administrator when three unsuccessful logon attempts in 15 minutes occur.
Severity | Group ID | Group Title | Version | Rule ID | Date | STIG Version |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| medium | V-274156 | SRG-OS-000329-GPOS-00128 | AZLX-23-002465 | SV-274156r1120456_rule | 2025-07-15 | 1 |
| Description |
|---|
| By limiting the number of failed logon attempts, the risk of unauthorized system access via user password guessing, otherwise known as brute-forcing, is reduced. Limits are imposed by locking the account. |
| ℹ️ Check |
|---|
| Note: If the system administrator demonstrates the use of an approved centralized account management method that locks an account after three unsuccessful logon attempts within a period of 15 minutes, this requirement is not applicable. Verify Amazon Linux 2023 locks an account after three unsuccessful logon attempts within a period of 15 minutes with the following command: $ grep fail_interval /etc/security/faillock.conf fail_interval = 900 If the "fail_interval" option is not set to "900" or less (but not "0"), the line is commented out, or the line is missing, this is a finding. |
| ✔️ Fix |
|---|
| Configure Amazon Linux 2023 to automatically lock an account after three unsuccessful logon attempts in 15-minutes. First, ensure that the system is configured with authselect, i.e., using sssd profiles: $ sudo authselect select sssd [--force] Then, enable the faillock feature: $ sudo authselect enable-feature with-faillock Then edit the "/etc/security/faillock.conf" file as follows: fail_interval = 900 |