The NGINX service account must be configured to lock changes to the password.

Severity	Group ID	Group Title	Version	Rule ID	Date	STIG Version
medium	V-278408	SRG-APP-000870	NGNX-APP-003040	SV-278408r1171976_rule	2026-01-07	1

Description
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.

Description

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.

ℹ️ Check
Determine path to NGINX config file(s): nginx -qT \| grep "# configuration" # configuration file /etc/nginx/nginx.conf: Note: The default NGINX configuration is "/etc/nginx/nginx.conf", though various files may also be included. Identify the NGINX runtime user: grep -E '^\s*user\s+' /etc/nginx/nginx.conf Expected output (example): user nginx; Confirm the password is locked: passwd -S nginx Expected output (example): nginx LK 2025-05-21 -1 -1 -1 -1 (Password locked.) If the NGINX runtime user account is not locked for password changes, this is a finding.

ℹ️ Check

Determine path to NGINX config file(s): nginx -qT | grep "# configuration" # configuration file /etc/nginx/nginx.conf: Note: The default NGINX configuration is "/etc/nginx/nginx.conf", though various files may also be included. Identify the NGINX runtime user: grep -E '^\s*user\s+' /etc/nginx/nginx.conf Expected output (example): user nginx; Confirm the password is locked: passwd -S nginx Expected output (example): nginx LK 2025-05-21 -1 -1 -1 -1 (Password locked.) If the NGINX runtime user account is not locked for password changes, this is a finding.

✔️ Fix
Lock the password for the NGINX user (if not already locked): sudo passwd -l nginx