RHEL 10 must automatically lock the root account until the root account is released by an administrator when three unsuccessful login attempts occur during a 15-minute time period.

Severity
Group ID
Group Title
Version
Rule ID
Date
STIG Version
mediumV-281195SRG-OS-000329-GPOS-00128RHEL-10-600415SV-281195r1166537_rule2026-03-111

Description

By limiting the number of failed login attempts, the risk of unauthorized system access via user password guessing, also known as brute-forcing, is reduced. Limits are imposed by locking the account. Satisfies: SRG-OS-000329-GPOS-00128, SRG-OS-000021-GPOS-00005

ℹ️ Check

Verify RHEL 10 is configured to lock the root account after three unsuccessful login attempts with the following command: $ sudo grep even_deny_root /etc/security/faillock.conf even_deny_root If the "even_deny_root" option is not set or is missing or commented out, this is a finding.

✔️ Fix

Configure RHEL 10 to lock out the "root" account after a number of incorrect login attempts using "pam_faillock.so". Enable the feature using the following command: $ sudo authselect enable-feature with-faillock Edit the "/etc/security/faillock.conf" by uncommenting or adding the following line: even_deny_root