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 be configured to use the pam_pwquality.so module.

DISA Rule

SV-258863r1015950_rule

Vulnerability Number

V-258863

Group Title

SRG-OS-000069-GPOS-00037

Rule Version

PHTN-40-000197

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

Add or update the pam_pwquality.so module line 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: The line must be configured before pam_pwhistory.so.

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 the pam_pwquality.so module is used:

# grep '^password' /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
password required pam_pwhistory.so remember=5 retry=3 enforce_for_root use_authtok
password required pam_unix.so sha512 use_authtok shadow try_first_pass

If the pam_pwquality.so module is not present, this is a finding.

Vulnerability Number

V-258863

Documentable

False

Rule Version

PHTN-40-000197

Severity Override Guidance

At the command line, run the following command to verify the pam_pwquality.so module is used:

# grep '^password' /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
password required pam_pwhistory.so remember=5 retry=3 enforce_for_root use_authtok
password required pam_unix.so sha512 use_authtok shadow try_first_pass

If the pam_pwquality.so module is not present, this is a finding.

Check Content Reference

M

Target Key

5569