STIGUI
V-253122CAT I — High severitySV-253122r991589_rule

TOSS must not allow blank or null passwords in the password-auth file.

Rule version TOSS-04-040810 · STIG v2 · 2026-08-20

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/password-auth

If output is produced, this is a finding.

Fix

Remove any instances of the "nullok" option in the "/etc/pam.d/password-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-253122
Group title
SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227
Rule ID
SV-253122r991589_rule
Check ID
C-56575r825036_chk
Fix ID
F-56525r825037_fix