STIGQter: STIG Summary: Amazon Linux 2023 Security Technical Implementation Guide Version: 1 Release: 4 Benchmark Date: 01 Jul 2026:

Amazon Linux 2023 must automatically lock an account when three unsuccessful logon attempts occur.

DISA Rule

SV-274147r1184027_rule

Vulnerability Number

V-274147

Group Title

SRG-OS-000021-GPOS-00005

Rule Version

AZLX-23-002420

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

Configure Amazon Linux 2023 to lock an account when three unsuccessful logon attempts occur.

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 Amazon Linux 2023 locks an account after three unsuccessful logon attempts with the following commands:

Note: If the system administrator (SA) demonstrates the use of an approved centralized account management method that locks an account after three unsuccessful logon attempts within a period of 15 minutes, this requirement is met by that method.

$ sudo grep pam_faillock.so /etc/pam.d/password-auth /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 "deny" option is not set to "3" or less (but not "0") on the "preauth" line with the "pam_faillock.so" module, or is missing from this line, if any of the lines are commented out or are missing, this is a finding.

Vulnerability Number

V-274147

Documentable

False

Rule Version

AZLX-23-002420

Severity Override Guidance

Verify Amazon Linux 2023 locks an account after three unsuccessful logon attempts with the following commands:

Note: If the system administrator (SA) demonstrates the use of an approved centralized account management method that locks an account after three unsuccessful logon attempts within a period of 15 minutes, this requirement is met by that method.

$ sudo grep pam_faillock.so /etc/pam.d/password-auth /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 "deny" option is not set to "3" or less (but not "0") on the "preauth" line with the "pam_faillock.so" module, or is missing from this line, if any of the lines are commented out or are missing, this is a finding.

Check Content Reference

M

Target Key

5700