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

RHEL 8 must not allow accounts configured with blank or null passwords.

DISA Rule

SV-230380r1069308_rule

Vulnerability Number

V-230380

Group Title

SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227

Rule Version

RHEL-08-020330

Severity

CAT I

CCI(s)

• CCI-000366 - Implement the security configuration settings.

Weight

10

Fix Recommendation

Edit the following line in "etc/ssh/sshd_config" to prevent logons with empty passwords.

PermitEmptyPasswords no

The SSH daemon must be restarted for the changes to take effect. To restart the SSH daemon, run the following command:

$ sudo systemctl restart sshd.service

Check Contents

To verify that null passwords cannot be used, run the following command:

$ sudo /usr/sbin/sshd -dd 2>&1 | awk '/filename/ {print $4}' | tr -d '\r' | tr '\n' ' ' | xargs sudo grep -iH '^\s*permitemptypasswords'

/etc/ssh/sshd_config:PermitEmptyPasswords no

If "PermitEmptyPasswords" is set to "yes", this is a finding.

If conflicting results are returned, this is a finding.

Vulnerability Number

V-230380

Documentable

False

Rule Version

RHEL-08-020330

Severity Override Guidance

To verify that null passwords cannot be used, run the following command:

$ sudo /usr/sbin/sshd -dd 2>&1 | awk '/filename/ {print $4}' | tr -d '\r' | tr '\n' ' ' | xargs sudo grep -iH '^\s*permitemptypasswords'

/etc/ssh/sshd_config:PermitEmptyPasswords no

If "PermitEmptyPasswords" is set to "yes", this is a finding.

If conflicting results are returned, this is a finding.

Check Content Reference

M

Target Key

2921