RHEL 9 must automatically lock the root account until the root account is released by an administrator when three unsuccessful logon attempts occur during a 15-minute time period.
Severity | Group ID | Group Title | Version | Rule ID | Date | STIG Version |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| medium | V-258055 | SRG-OS-000329-GPOS-00128 | RHEL-09-411080 | SV-258055r1045140_rule | 2025-02-27 | 2 |
| Description |
|---|
| By limiting the number of failed logon 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 9 is configured to lock the root account after three unsuccessful logon attempts with the 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 |
|---|
| To configure RHEL 9 to lock out the "root" account after a number of incorrect logon attempts using "pam_faillock.so", first 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 |