topic Re: max passwd length in Operating System - Linux

max passwd length

skt_skt — Wed, 06 May 2009 12:31:17 GMT

Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS release

I have minlen cofigured in /etc/pam.d/system-auth. But what is the maxlen possible?

also where is the PASSWORD_HISTORY_DEPTH(HP-UX equivalent) defined in LINUX?

Re: max passwd length

Ivan Ferreira — Wed, 06 May 2009 12:38:22 GMT

The pam_cracklib provides the minlen and remember options. There is no way to restric the "maximun" length, it depends of the user. The maximum is 256 characters.

Re: max passwd length

Court Campbell — Wed, 06 May 2009 12:50:22 GMT

You would need to use pam_passwdqc to enforce a max length.

Re: max passwd length

skt_skt — Wed, 06 May 2009 14:17:44 GMT

how to use pam_passwdqc ?

Re: max passwd length

skt_skt — Wed, 06 May 2009 15:17:35 GMT

Both /etc/login.defs and /etc/pam.d/system-auth has minlen defined. Which one takes the precedence over the other?

# cat /etc/login.defs|grep LEN
PASS_MAX_LEN 12
PASS_MIN_LEN 6

# cat /etc/pam.d/system-auth|grep pam_cracklib
password required /lib/security//pam_cracklib.so retry=3 minlen=6 type=

Re: max passwd length

Ivan Ferreira — Wed, 06 May 2009 15:27:47 GMT

Parameters for password lenght in logins.def does not work. It is superseded by the PAM module "pam_cracklib"

Re: max passwd length

Court Campbell — Wed, 06 May 2009 18:14:08 GMT

You use it the same way you use any other pam module. Just add it to tour system-auth file under the password type. If you have it installed there should be a man page for it.