The Cisco SNA appliance must be configured to allow user selection of long passwords and passphrases, including spaces and all printable characters for password-based authentication.

Password-based authentication applies to passwords regardless of whether they are used in single-factor or multifactor authentication. Long passwords or passphrases are preferable over shorter passwords. Enforced composition rules provide marginal security benefits while decreasing usability. However, organizations may choose to establish certain rules for password generation (e.g., minimum character length for long passwords) under certain circumstances and can enforce this requirement in IA-5(1)(h). Account recovery can occur, for example, in situations when a password is forgotten. Cryptographically protected passwords include salted one-way cryptographic hashes of passwords. The list of commonly used, compromised, or expected passwords includes passwords obtained from previous breach corpuses, dictionary words, and repetitive or sequential characters. The list includes context-specific words, such as the name of the service, username, and derivatives thereof.

Verify the Cisco SNA appliance is configured to allow user selection of long passwords and passphrases, including spaces and all printable characters.

Navigate to SNA Dashboard >> Central Management >> Inventory >> Actions... >> Edit Appliance Configuration >> General >> Password Policy.

Verify the "Maximum Number of Characters in Password" is greater than or equal to "32" (up to 256).

Verify the "Minimum Number of Characters in Password" is greater than or equal to "15".

If the Cisco SNA appliance is not configured to allow user selection of long passwords and passphrases, including spaces and all printable characters, this is a finding.

Configure the Cisco SNA appliance to allow user selection of long passwords and passphrases, including spaces and all printable characters.

Navigate to SNA Dashboard >> Central Management >> Inventory >> Actions... >> Edit Appliance Configuration >> General >> Password Policy.

Verify the "Maximum Number of Characters in Password" is greater than or equal to "32" (up to 256).

Verify the "Minimum Number of Characters in Password" is greater than or equal to "15".

Apply Settings.