STIGQter: STIG Summary: VMware vSphere 8.0 vCenter Appliance Photon OS 4.0 Security Technical Implementation Guide Version: 2 Release: 2 Benchmark Date: 01 Jul 2026:

The Photon operating system must enforce the limit of three consecutive invalid logon attempts by a user during a 15-minute time period.

DISA Rule

SV-258802r958388_rule

Vulnerability Number

V-258802

Group Title

SRG-OS-000021-GPOS-00005

Rule Version

PHTN-40-000004

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

Navigate to and open:

/etc/security/faillock.conf

Add or update the following lines:

deny = 3
fail_interval = 900

Note: On vCenter appliances, the equivalent file must be edited under "/etc/applmgmt/appliance", if one exists, for the changes to persist after a reboot.

Check Contents

At the command line, run the following commands to verify accounts are locked after three consecutive invalid logon attempts by a user during a 15-minute time period:

# grep '^deny =' /etc/security/faillock.conf

Example result:

deny = 3

If the "deny" option is not set to "3" or less (but not "0"), is missing or commented out, this is a finding.

# grep '^fail_interval =' /etc/security/faillock.conf

Example result:

fail_interval = 900

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

Note: If faillock.conf is not used to configure the "pam_faillock.so" module, then these options may be specified on the faillock lines in the system-auth and system-account PAM files.

Vulnerability Number

V-258802

Documentable

False

Rule Version

PHTN-40-000004

Severity Override Guidance

At the command line, run the following commands to verify accounts are locked after three consecutive invalid logon attempts by a user during a 15-minute time period:

# grep '^deny =' /etc/security/faillock.conf

Example result:

deny = 3

If the "deny" option is not set to "3" or less (but not "0"), is missing or commented out, this is a finding.

# grep '^fail_interval =' /etc/security/faillock.conf

Example result:

fail_interval = 900

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

Note: If faillock.conf is not used to configure the "pam_faillock.so" module, then these options may be specified on the faillock lines in the system-auth and system-account PAM files.

Check Content Reference

M

Target Key

5569