The system must prohibit password reuse for a minimum of five generations.

From VMware vSphere vCenter Server Version 6 Security Technical Implementation Guide

Associated with: CCI-000200

SV-77639r1_rule The system must prohibit password reuse for a minimum of five generations.

Vulnerability discussion

Password complexity, or strength, is a measure of the effectiveness of a password in resisting attempts at guessing and brute-force attacks. To meet password policy requirements, passwords need to be changed at specific policy-based intervals. If the information system or application allows the user to consecutively reuse their password when that password has exceeded its defined lifetime, the end result is a password that is not changed as per policy requirements.

Check content

From the vSphere Web Client go to Administration >> Single Sign-On >> Configuration >> Policies >> Password Policy. View the value of the "Restrict reuse" setting. If the "Restrict reuse" policy is not set to 5 or more, this is a finding.

Fix text

From the vSphere Web Client go to Administration >> Single Sign-On >> Configuration >> Policies >> Password Policy. Click "Edit" and enter "5" into the "Restrict reuse" setting and click "OK".

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