pam_cracklib 'minlen' option is misnamed and poorly explained
Bug #139999 reported by
Chris Bozic
Affects | Status | Importance | Assigned to | Milestone | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
pam (Ubuntu) |
Triaged
|
Medium
|
Unassigned |
Bug Description
Binary package hint: libpam-cracklib
I have made some simple changes to /etc/pam.
http://
...and none of the changes seem to work in programs like passwd and adduser.
Changed in pam (Ubuntu): | |
status: | Triaged → Incomplete |
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Hi Chris,
Have you read the pam_cracklib manpage? The 'minlen' option is unfortunately named, because it is /not/ a minimum acceptable password length, it's a minimum acceptable password *strength*. Because pam_cracklib assigns "credits" for use of each character class, using a mix of upper/lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols will cause pam_cracklib to see the password as "longer" than it really is.
If you are trying to set a hard minimum for password length, you can use the 'min=N' option to pam_unix itself, with or without pam_cracklib.
If this is not the problem you're having, then I'll have to take a second look. Your usage looks correct, but I haven't yet tested here to be sure it works the way I understand it's supposed to.