The system must require at least eight characters be changed between the old and new passwords during a password change.

From AIX 6.1 SECURITY TECHNICAL IMPLEMENTATION GUIDE

Associated with: CCI-000195

SV-38677r2_rule The system must require at least eight characters be changed between the old and new passwords during a password change.

Vulnerability discussion

To ensure password changes are effective in their goals, the system must ensure old and new passwords have significant differences. Without significant changes, new passwords may be easily guessed based on the value of a previously compromised password.

Check content

Check the value of the mindiff parameter. Procedure: #lsuser -a mindiff ALL If any user's mindiff is less than 8, this is a finding.

Fix text

Use the chsec command to change mindiff to 8. # chsec -f /etc/security/user -s default -a mindiff=8 # chuser mindiff=8 < user id >

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