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 a minimum 15-character password length.

DISA Rule

SV-258823r1015946_rule

Vulnerability Number

V-258823

Group Title

SRG-OS-000078-GPOS-00046

Rule Version

PHTN-40-000044

Severity

CAT II

CCI(s)

• CCI-004066 - For password-based authentication, enforce organization-defined composition and complexity rules.

Weight

10

Fix Recommendation

Navigate to and open:

/etc/pam.d/system-password

Configure the pam_pwquality.so line to have the "minlen" option set to "15" as follows:

password requisite pam_pwquality.so dcredit=-1 ucredit=-1 lcredit=-1 ocredit=-1 minlen=15 difok=8 enforce_for_root dictcheck=1

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 command to verify a minimum 15-character password length:

# grep '^password.*pam_pwquality.so' /etc/pam.d/system-password

Example result:

password requisite pam_pwquality.so dcredit=-1 ucredit=-1 lcredit=-1 ocredit=-1 minlen=15 difok=8 enforce_for_root dictcheck=1

If the "minlen" option is not >= 15, is missing or commented out, this is a finding.

Vulnerability Number

V-258823

Documentable

False

Rule Version

PHTN-40-000044

Severity Override Guidance

At the command line, run the following command to verify a minimum 15-character password length:

# grep '^password.*pam_pwquality.so' /etc/pam.d/system-password

Example result:

password requisite pam_pwquality.so dcredit=-1 ucredit=-1 lcredit=-1 ocredit=-1 minlen=15 difok=8 enforce_for_root dictcheck=1

If the "minlen" option is not >= 15, is missing or commented out, this is a finding.

Check Content Reference

M

Target Key

5569