STIGQter: STIG Summary: Oracle Linux 8 Security Technical Implementation Guide Version: 2 Release: 9 Benchmark Date: 01 Jul 2026:

OL 8 systems below version 8.2 must automatically lock an account until the locked account is released by an administrator when three unsuccessful logon attempts occur during a 15-minute time period.

DISA Rule

SV-248656r1184125_rule

Vulnerability Number

V-248656

Group Title

SRG-OS-000021-GPOS-00005

Rule Version

OL08-00-020014

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.
• CCI-002238 - Automatically lock the account or node for either an organization-defined time period, until the locked account or node is released by an administrator, or delays the next logon prompt according to the organization-defined delay algorithm when the maximum number of unsuccessful logon attempts is exceeded.

Weight

10

Fix Recommendation

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

Add/modify the appropriate sections of the "/etc/pam.d/system-auth" and "/etc/pam.d/password-auth" files to match the following lines:

auth required pam_faillock.so preauth dir=/var/log/faillock silent audit deny=3 even_deny_root fail_interval=900 unlock_time=0
auth required pam_faillock.so authfail dir=/var/log/faillock unlock_time=0
account required pam_faillock.so

The "sssd" service must be restarted for the changes to take effect. To restart the "sssd" service, run the following command:

$ sudo systemctl restart sssd.service

Check Contents

Verify the system locks an account after three unsuccessful logon attempts within a period of 15 minutes until released by an administrator with the following commands.

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

$ sudo grep pam_faillock.so /etc/pam.d/password-auth

auth required pam_faillock.so preauth dir=/var/log/faillock silent audit deny=3 even_deny_root fail_interval=900 unlock_time=0
auth required pam_faillock.so authfail dir=/var/log/faillock unlock_time=0
account required pam_faillock.so

If the "unlock_time" option is not set to "0" on the "preauth" and "authfail" lines with the "pam_faillock.so" module or is missing from these lines, this is a finding.

$ sudo grep pam_faillock.so /etc/pam.d/system-auth

auth required pam_faillock.so preauth dir=/var/log/faillock silent audit deny=3 even_deny_root fail_interval=900 unlock_time=0
auth required pam_faillock.so authfail dir=/var/log/faillock unlock_time=0
account required pam_faillock.so

If the "unlock_time" option is not set to "0" on the "preauth" and "authfail" lines with the "pam_faillock.so" module or is missing from these lines, this is a finding.

Vulnerability Number

V-248656

Documentable

False

Rule Version

OL08-00-020014

Severity Override Guidance

Verify the system locks an account after three unsuccessful logon attempts within a period of 15 minutes until released by an administrator with the following commands.

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

$ sudo grep pam_faillock.so /etc/pam.d/password-auth

auth required pam_faillock.so preauth dir=/var/log/faillock silent audit deny=3 even_deny_root fail_interval=900 unlock_time=0
auth required pam_faillock.so authfail dir=/var/log/faillock unlock_time=0
account required pam_faillock.so

If the "unlock_time" option is not set to "0" on the "preauth" and "authfail" lines with the "pam_faillock.so" module or is missing from these lines, this is a finding.

$ sudo grep pam_faillock.so /etc/pam.d/system-auth

auth required pam_faillock.so preauth dir=/var/log/faillock silent audit deny=3 even_deny_root fail_interval=900 unlock_time=0
auth required pam_faillock.so authfail dir=/var/log/faillock unlock_time=0
account required pam_faillock.so

If the "unlock_time" option is not set to "0" on the "preauth" and "authfail" lines with the "pam_faillock.so" module or is missing from these lines, this is a finding.

Check Content Reference

M

Target Key

5416