The system must enforce the entire password during authentication.

From VMware ESXi Server 5.0 Security Technical Implementation Guide

Associated with: CCI-000366

SV-51079r1_rule The system must enforce the entire password during authentication.

Vulnerability discussion

Some common password hashing schemes only process the first eight characters of a user's password, which reduces the effective strength of the password.

Check content

Disable lock down mode. Enable the ESXi Shell and attempt to log into the root account using only the first 8 of 14 required characters. If the login succeeds, this is a finding. Re-enable lock down mode.

Fix text

Temporarily disable Lockdown Mode and enable the ESXi Shell via the vSphere Client. Open the vSphere/VMware Infrastructure (VI) Client and log in with appropriate credentials. If connecting to vCenter Server, click on the desired host. Click the Configuration tab. Click Software, Security Profile, Services, Properties, ESXi Shell and Options, respectively. Start the ESXi Shell service, where/as required. As root, log in to the host and verify the expected settings are configured in the /etc/pam.d/passwd file. The entry format is "password requisite /lib/security/pam_passwdqc.so similar=deny retry=N min=N0,N1,N2,N3,N4". The "N4" field controls the behavior requiring at least one character each of the 4 different character classes, with a minimum required length of 14 characters. # vi /etc/pam.d/passwd Set the "N4" password complexity field to "14" and set the "N0" thru "N3" fields to "disabled". Re-enable Lockdown Mode on the host.

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