cis-ubuntu1604-v200-5-4-2

DevOps & Security

Ensure lockout for failed password attempts is configured

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Source SKILL.md: https://github.com/CyberStrikeus/CyberStrike/blob/HEAD/.cyberstrike/skill/CIS_benchmarks/Operating_Systems/Ubuntu/CIS_Ubuntu_Linux_16.04_LTS_Benchmark_v2.0.0/cis-ubuntu1604-v200-5-4-2/SKILL.md

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Ensure lockout for failed password attempts is configured

Profile Applicability:

Level 1 - Server
Level 1 - Workstation

Assessment Status: Automated

Description

Lock out users after n unsuccessful consecutive login attempts. The first sets of changes are made to the PAM configuration files. The second set of changes are applied to the program specific PAM configuration file. The second set of changes must be applied to each program that will lock out users. Check the documentation for each secondary program for instructions on how to configure them to work with PAM.

deny=n - n represents the number of failed attempts before the account is locked
unlock_time=n - n represents the number of seconds before the account is unlocked
audit - Will log the user name into the system log if the user is not found.
silent - Don't print informative messages. Set the lockout number and unlock time in accordance with local site policy.

Rationale

Locking out user IDs after n unsuccessful consecutive login attempts mitigates brute force password attacks against your systems.

Audit Procedure

Command Line

Verify password lockouts are configured. These settings are commonly configured with the pam_tally2.so modules found in /etc/pam.d/common-auth:

grep "pam_tally2" /etc/pam.d/common-auth

Expected output:

auth required pam_tally2.so onerr=fail audit silent deny=5 unlock_time=900

Verify the pam_deny.so module and pam_tally2.so modules are included in /etc/pam.d/common-account:

grep -E "pam_(tally2|deny)\.so" /etc/pam.d/common-account

Expected output:

account requisite                       pam_deny.so
account required                        pam_tally2.so

Remediation

Command Line

Edit the /etc/pam.d/common-auth file and add the auth line below:

auth required pam_tally2.so onerr=fail audit silent deny=5 unlock_time=900

Edit the /etc/pam.d/common-account file and add the account lines below:

account    requisite    pam_deny.so
account    required     pam_tally2.so

Additional Information

Add pam_tally2 to the account section account required pam_tally2.so for the counter to reset to 0 when using sudo.
Use of the "audit" keyword may log credentials in the case of user error during authentication. This risk should be evaluated in the context of the site policies of your organization.
If a user has been locked out because they have reached the maximum consecutive failure count defined by deny= in the pam_tally2.so module, the user can be unlocked by issuing the command /sbin/pam_tally2 -u <username> --reset. This command sets the failed count to 0, effectively unlocking the user.

References

None

CIS Controls

Controls Version	Control
v7	16.7 Establish Process for Revoking Access - Establish and follow an automated process for revoking system access by disabling accounts immediately upon termination or change of responsibilities of an employee or contractor. Disabling these accounts, instead of deleting accounts, allows preservation of audit trails.

Profile

Level 1 - Server
Level 1 - Workstation