STIGUI
V-282450CAT II — Medium severitySV-282450r1200330_rule

TOSS 5 must enforce password complexity rules for the root account.

Rule version TOSS-05-000338 · STIG v1 · 2026-08-20

Discussion

Using a complex password helps to increase the time and resources required to compromise the password. Password complexity, or strength, is a measure of the effectiveness of a password in resisting attempts at guessing and brute-force attacks.

Password complexity is one factor of several that determines how long it takes to crack a password. The more complex the password, the greater the number of possible combinations that must be tested before the password is compromised.

Check

Verify TOSS 5 enforces password complexity rules for the root account.

Check if root user is required to use complex passwords using the following command:

$ grep enforce_for_root /etc/security/pwquality.conf /etc/security/pwquality.conf/*.conf

/etc/security/pwquality.conf:enforce_for_root

If "enforce_for_root" is commented or missing, this is a finding.

Fix

Configure TOSS 5 to enforce password complexity on the root account.

Add or update the following line in "/etc/security/pwquality.conf":

enforce_for_root

Identifiers

Group ID
V-282450
Group title
SRG-OS-000072-GPOS-00040
Rule ID
SV-282450r1200330_rule
Check ID
C-87011r1200328_chk
Fix ID
F-86916r1200329_fix