Limit Password Reuse (STIGs - ubuntu2004)
This page is not yet available in Spanish. We are working on its translation.
If you have any questions or feedback about our current translation project,
feel free to reach out to us!Description
Do not allow users to reuse recent passwords. This can be accomplished by using the
remember
option for the pam_unix
or pam_pwhistory
PAM modules.
Rationale
Preventing re-use of previous passwords helps ensure that a compromised password is not
re-used by a user.
Shell script
The following script can be run on the host to remediate the issue.
#!/bin/bash
# Remediation is applicable only in certain platforms
if dpkg-query --show --showformat='${db:Status-Status}\n' 'libpam-runtime' 2>/dev/null | grep -q installed; then
var_password_pam_unix_remember='5'
if [ -e "/etc/pam.d/common-password" ] ; then
valueRegex="$var_password_pam_unix_remember" defaultValue="$var_password_pam_unix_remember"
# non-empty values need to be preceded by an equals sign
[ -n "${valueRegex}" ] && valueRegex="=${valueRegex}"
# add an equals sign to non-empty values
[ -n "${defaultValue}" ] && defaultValue="=${defaultValue}"
# fix 'type' if it's wrong
if grep -q -P "^\\s*(?"'!'"password\\s)[[:alnum:]]+\\s+[[:alnum:]]+\\s+pam_unix.so" < "/etc/pam.d/common-password" ; then
sed --follow-symlinks -i -E -e "s/^(\\s*)[[:alnum:]]+(\\s+[[:alnum:]]+\\s+pam_unix.so)/\\1password\\2/" "/etc/pam.d/common-password"
fi
# fix 'control' if it's wrong
if grep -q -P "^\\s*password\\s+(?"'!'"\[success=[[:alnum:]].*\])[[:alnum:]]+\\s+pam_unix.so" < "/etc/pam.d/common-password" ; then
sed --follow-symlinks -i -E -e "s/^(\\s*password\\s+)[[:alnum:]]+(\\s+pam_unix.so)/\\1\[success=[[:alnum:]].*\]\\2/" "/etc/pam.d/common-password"
fi
# fix the value for 'option' if one exists but does not match 'valueRegex'
if grep -q -P "^\\s*password\\s+\[success=[[:alnum:]].*\]\\s+pam_unix.so(\\s.+)?\\s+remember(?"'!'"${valueRegex}(\\s|\$))" < "/etc/pam.d/common-password" ; then
sed --follow-symlinks -i -E -e "s/^(\\s*password\\s+\[success=[[:alnum:]].*\]\\s+pam_unix.so(\\s.+)?\\s)remember=[^[:space:]]*/\\1remember${defaultValue}/" "/etc/pam.d/common-password"
# add 'option=default' if option is not set
elif grep -q -E "^\\s*password\\s+\[success=[[:alnum:]].*\]\\s+pam_unix.so" < "/etc/pam.d/common-password" &&
grep -E "^\\s*password\\s+\[success=[[:alnum:]].*\]\\s+pam_unix.so" < "/etc/pam.d/common-password" | grep -q -E -v "\\sremember(=|\\s|\$)" ; then
sed --follow-symlinks -i -E -e "s/^(\\s*password\\s+\[success=[[:alnum:]].*\]\\s+pam_unix.so[^\\n]*)/\\1 remember${defaultValue}/" "/etc/pam.d/common-password"
# add a new entry if none exists
elif ! grep -q -P "^\\s*password\\s+\[success=[[:alnum:]].*\]\\s+pam_unix.so(\\s.+)?\\s+remember${valueRegex}(\\s|\$)" < "/etc/pam.d/common-password" ; then
echo "password \[success=[[:alnum:]].*\] pam_unix.so remember${defaultValue}" >> "/etc/pam.d/common-password"
fi
else
echo "/etc/pam.d/common-password doesn't exist" >&2
fi
else
>&2 echo 'Remediation is not applicable, nothing was done'
fi
Ansible playbook
The following playbook can be run with Ansible to remediate the issue.
- name: Gather the package facts
package_facts:
manager: auto
tags:
- CJIS-5.6.2.1.1
- DISA-STIG-UBTU-20-010070
- NIST-800-171-3.5.8
- NIST-800-53-IA-5(1)(e)
- NIST-800-53-IA-5(f)
- PCI-DSS-Req-8.2.5
- PCI-DSSv4-8.3
- PCI-DSSv4-8.3.7
- accounts_password_pam_unix_remember
- configure_strategy
- low_complexity
- medium_disruption
- medium_severity
- no_reboot_needed
- name: XCCDF Value var_password_pam_unix_remember # promote to variable
set_fact:
var_password_pam_unix_remember: !!str 5
tags:
- always
- name: Limit Password Reuse - Check if the required PAM module option is present
in /etc/pam.d/common-password
ansible.builtin.lineinfile:
path: /etc/pam.d/common-password
regexp: ^\s*password\s+\[success=[A-Za-z0-9].*\]\s+pam_unix.so\s*.*\sremember\b
state: absent
check_mode: true
changed_when: false
register: result_pam_module_remember_option_present
when: '"libpam-runtime" in ansible_facts.packages'
tags:
- CJIS-5.6.2.1.1
- DISA-STIG-UBTU-20-010070
- NIST-800-171-3.5.8
- NIST-800-53-IA-5(1)(e)
- NIST-800-53-IA-5(f)
- PCI-DSS-Req-8.2.5
- PCI-DSSv4-8.3
- PCI-DSSv4-8.3.7
- accounts_password_pam_unix_remember
- configure_strategy
- low_complexity
- medium_disruption
- medium_severity
- no_reboot_needed
- name: Limit Password Reuse - Ensure the "remember" PAM option for "pam_unix.so"
is included in /etc/pam.d/common-password
ansible.builtin.lineinfile:
path: /etc/pam.d/common-password
backrefs: true
regexp: ^(\s*password\s+\[success=[A-Za-z0-9].*\]\s+pam_unix.so.*)
line: \1 remember={{ var_password_pam_unix_remember }}
state: present
register: result_pam_remember_add
when:
- '"libpam-runtime" in ansible_facts.packages'
- result_pam_module_remember_option_present.found == 0
tags:
- CJIS-5.6.2.1.1
- DISA-STIG-UBTU-20-010070
- NIST-800-171-3.5.8
- NIST-800-53-IA-5(1)(e)
- NIST-800-53-IA-5(f)
- PCI-DSS-Req-8.2.5
- PCI-DSSv4-8.3
- PCI-DSSv4-8.3.7
- accounts_password_pam_unix_remember
- configure_strategy
- low_complexity
- medium_disruption
- medium_severity
- no_reboot_needed
- name: Limit Password Reuse - Ensure the required value for "remember" PAM option
from "pam_unix.so" in /etc/pam.d/common-password
ansible.builtin.lineinfile:
path: /etc/pam.d/common-password
backrefs: true
regexp: ^(\s*password\s+\[success=[A-Za-z0-9].*\]\s+pam_unix.so\s+.*)(remember)=[0-9a-zA-Z]+\s*(.*)
line: \1\2={{ var_password_pam_unix_remember }} \3
register: result_pam_remember_edit
when:
- '"libpam-runtime" in ansible_facts.packages'
- result_pam_module_remember_option_present.found > 0
tags:
- CJIS-5.6.2.1.1
- DISA-STIG-UBTU-20-010070
- NIST-800-171-3.5.8
- NIST-800-53-IA-5(1)(e)
- NIST-800-53-IA-5(f)
- PCI-DSS-Req-8.2.5
- PCI-DSSv4-8.3
- PCI-DSSv4-8.3.7
- accounts_password_pam_unix_remember
- configure_strategy
- low_complexity
- medium_disruption
- medium_severity
- no_reboot_needed
Warning
If the system relies on authselect
tool to manage PAM settings, the remediation
will also use authselect
tool. However, if any manual modification was made in
PAM files, the authselect
integrity check will fail and the remediation will be
aborted in order to preserve intentional changes. In this case, an informative message will
be shown in the remediation report.