STIGUI
V-253097CAT II — Medium severitySV-253097r991588_rule

TOSS must enforce a delay of at least four seconds between logon prompts following a failed logon attempt.

Rule version TOSS-04-040550 · STIG v2 · 2026-08-20

Discussion

Limiting the number of logon attempts over a certain time interval reduces the chances that an unauthorized user may gain access to an account.

Check

Verify the operating system enforces a delay of at least four seconds between console logon prompts following a failed logon attempt with the following command:

$ sudo grep -i fail_delay /etc/login.defs

FAIL_DELAY 4

If the value of "FAIL_DELAY" is not set to "4" or greater, or the line is commented out, this is a finding.

Fix

Configure the operating system to enforce a delay of at least four seconds between logon prompts following a failed console logon attempt.

Modify the "/etc/login.defs" file to set the "FAIL_DELAY" parameter to "4" or greater:

FAIL_DELAY 4

Identifiers

Group ID
V-253097
Group title
SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00226
Rule ID
SV-253097r991588_rule
Check ID
C-56550r824961_chk
Fix ID
F-56500r824962_fix