Profile Applicability: Level 1


Description:

Password policies are, in part, used to enforce password complexity requirements. IAM password policies can be used to ensure passwords are comprised of different character sets. It is recommended that the password policy requires at least one uppercase letter.


Rationale:

At least one symbol in the password and similar conditions such as minimum length, whether it requires nonalphabetic characters, and how frequently it must be rotated in users account will make a strong password, one of the best security practices.


Impact:

Setting a password complexity policy increases account resiliency against brute force login attempts.


Default Value:

By default, AWS will have only a few password policy and if you want to make custom policies you can follow the remediation steps.



Audit:

  1. Login to AWS Console 

  2. Go to IAM Service on the AWS Console https://console.aws.amazon.com/iam/

  3. Click on Account Settings on the Left Pane 

  4. Check the list of policies shown under the Password policy section to know whether the particular policy is enabled or not

Using AWS CLI:

To view the password policy

aws iam get-account-password-policy

Pre-requisites:

  • Login to AWS console with Administrator access

  • After auditing, if the found uppercase letter condition is not enabled then only perform the below steps.


Remediation:

Implementation steps:

Perform the following to set the password policy as prescribed:

  1. Login to AWS Console 

  2. Go to IAM Service on the AWS Console https://console.aws.amazon.com/iam/

  3. Click on Account Settings on the Left Pane

     

  4. Click on edit button in the password policy section

  5.  Go to Custom , Check the Require at least one uppercase letter from Latin alphabet (A-Z) check box and click on save changes. 

Using AWS CLI:

To create or change the custom password policy

aws iam update-account-password-policy --require-uppercase-characters


Backout plan:

  1. Login to AWS Console 

  2. Go to IAM Service on the AWS Console https://console.aws.amazon.com/iam/

  3. Click on Account Settings on the Left Pane

  4. If you want to delete or change the custom policies, go to edit in Password Policy section and unmark the checkboxes  in Custom Policy then save changes. 


Using AWS CLI:

To delete the custom password policy

aws iam delete-account-password-policy


References:

https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/id_credentials_passwords_account-policy.html#IAMPasswordPolicy