STIGQter: STIG Summary: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 Security Technical Implementation Guide Version: 2 Release: 8 Benchmark Date: 01 Jul 2026:

RHEL 8 must automatically lock an account when three unsuccessful logon attempts occur during a 15-minute time period.

DISA Rule

SV-230335r1017147_rule

Vulnerability Number

V-230335

Group Title

SRG-OS-000021-GPOS-00005

Rule Version

RHEL-08-020013

Severity

CAT II

CCI(s)

• CCI-000044 - Enforce the organization-defined limit of consecutive invalid logon attempts by a user during the organization-defined time period.

Weight

10

Fix Recommendation

Configure the operating system to lock an account when three unsuccessful logon attempts occur in 15 minutes.

Add/Modify the "/etc/security/faillock.conf" file to match the following line:

fail_interval = 900

Check Contents

Note: This check applies to RHEL versions 8.2 or newer, if the system is RHEL version 8.0 or 8.1, this check is not applicable.

Verify the "/etc/security/faillock.conf" file is configured to lock an account after three unsuccessful logon attempts within 15 minutes:

$ sudo grep 'fail_interval =' /etc/security/faillock.conf

fail_interval = 900

If the "fail_interval" option is not set to "900" or more, is missing or commented out, this is a finding.

Vulnerability Number

V-230335

Documentable

False

Rule Version

RHEL-08-020013

Severity Override Guidance

Note: This check applies to RHEL versions 8.2 or newer, if the system is RHEL version 8.0 or 8.1, this check is not applicable.

Verify the "/etc/security/faillock.conf" file is configured to lock an account after three unsuccessful logon attempts within 15 minutes:

$ sudo grep 'fail_interval =' /etc/security/faillock.conf

fail_interval = 900

If the "fail_interval" option is not set to "900" or more, is missing or commented out, this is a finding.

Check Content Reference

M

Target Key

2921