STIGUI
V-268322CAT I — High severitySV-268322r1017568_rule

RHEL 8 must not allow blank or null passwords in the system-auth file.

Rule version RHEL-08-020331 · STIG v2 · 2026-05-20

Discussion

If an account has an empty password, anyone could log on and run commands with the privileges of that account. Accounts with empty passwords should never be used in operational environments.

Check

To verify that null passwords cannot be used, run the following command:

$ sudo grep -i nullok /etc/pam.d/system-auth

If output is produced, this is a finding.

Fix

Remove any instances of the "nullok" option in the "/etc/pam.d/system-auth" file to prevent logons with empty passwords.

Note: Manual changes to the listed file may be overwritten by the "authselect" program.

Identifiers

Group ID
V-268322
Group title
SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227
Rule ID
SV-268322r1017568_rule
Check ID
C-72343r1017566_chk
Fix ID
F-72246r1017567_fix