Details

The shorter the password, the lower the number of possible combinations that need to be tested before the password is compromised.

Password complexity, or strength, is a measure of the effectiveness of a password in resisting attempts at guessing and brute-force attacks. Password length is one factor of several that helps to determine strength and how long it takes to crack a password. The shorter the password, the lower the number of possible combinations that need to be tested before the password is compromised.

Use of more characters in a password helps to exponentially increase the time and/or resources required to compromise the password.

NOTE: Nessus has not performed this check. Please review the benchmark to ensure target compliance.

Solution

From the vSphere Web Client go to Administration >> Single Sign-On >> Configuration >> Policies >> Password Policy. Click ‘Edit’. Set the Minimum Length to ’15’ and click ‘OK’.

Supportive Information

The following resource is also helpful.

• https://dl.dod.cyber.mil/wp-content/uploads/stigs/zip/U_VMW_vSphere_6-5_Y21M10_STIG.zip

This security hardening control applies to the following category of controls within NIST 800-53: Identification and Authentication.This control applies to the following type of system VMware.

References

• 800-53|IA-5(1)(a)
• CAT|II
• CCI|CCI-000205
• Rule-ID|SV-216859r612237_rule
• STIG-ID|VCWN-65-000039
• STIG-Legacy|SV-104613
• STIG-Legacy|V-94783
• Vuln-ID|V-216859

Source

• Tenable.com/audits