STIGUI
V-248711CAT II — Medium severitySV-248711r991587_rule

OL 8 must prevent the use of dictionary words for passwords.

Rule version OL08-00-020300 · STIG v2 · 2026-08-24

Discussion

If OL 8 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.

Check

Verify OL 8 prevents the use of dictionary words for passwords.

Determine if the field "dictcheck" is set in the "/etc/security/pwquality.conf" or "/etc/security/pwquality.conf.d/*.conf" files with the following command:

$ sudo grep -r dictcheck /etc/security/pwquality.conf*

/etc/security/pwquality.conf:dictcheck=1

If the "dictcheck" parameter is not set to "1" or is commented out, this is a finding. If conflicting results are returned, this is a finding.

Fix

Configure OL 8 to prevent the use of dictionary words for passwords.

Add or update the following line in the "/etc/security/pwquality.conf" file or a configuration file in the "/etc/security/pwquality.conf.d/" directory:

dictcheck=1

Remove any configurations that conflict with the above value.

Identifiers

Group ID
V-248711
Group title
SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00225
Rule ID
SV-248711r991587_rule
Check ID
C-52145r833237_chk
Fix ID
F-52099r858648_fix