Configure an Account Lockout Policy

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Configure an Account Lockout Policy

In this lab, we will use the Pluggable Authentication Module (PAM) to create an account lockout policy. Account lockout policies are crucial in preventing brute force password attacks from being successful. *This course is not approved or sponsored by Red Hat.*

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Lab Info

Level

Intermediate

Last updated

Sep 24, 2025

Duration

30m

Challenge

Install PAM
1. To install PAM, run the following command:
```
sudo yum install -y pam-devel
```
Challenge

Create an Account Lockout Policy
1. To set up an account lockout policy that will lock for 15 minutes after 3 consecutive failed logins and includes the root account in the policy, you'll need to add the following lines to both /etc/pam.d/password-auth and /etc/pam.d/system-auth:
```
auth        required      pam_faillock.so preauth silent audit deny=3 even_deny_root unlock_time=900
auth        [default=die] pam_faillock.so authfail audit deny=3 even_deny_root unlock_time=900
```
- The first line above should be the second uncommented line in the files
- The second line above should be the fourth uncommented line in the files.
1. Next, we need to add the following line as the first line in the account section of the password-auth and system-auth files:
```
account     required      pam_faillock.so 
```
Challenge

Test the Account Lockout Policy
1. Open a new shell to your host
2. Enter incorrect login credentials for cloud_user
3. Run the command faillock and you now see the recorded failed logins

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