I am using a password generator that, due to its strength, I want to include special non-alphanumeric characters ( #
, !
, ?
, %
, among others) to assign to users in operating systems of the Linux family (especially Ubuntu and Linux Mint).
These users will have access to some mode operations so root
they will need to enter their password into the terminal for most of their work.
Is there a problem performing operations in the terminal if the passwords have these special characters?
As far as I know, there are no restrictions on special characters when generating passwords on Unix-based systems.
Ubuntu
In the Ubuntu documentation regarding Strong Passwords they recommend the use of special characters for their generation. I quote and translate the relevant part:
The same should apply to Linux Mint as they are both derived from Debian.
RedHat
In the documentation on Password Security they also recommend the use of special characters for generating passwords. I quote and translate:
slackware
In the Basic Security documentation they do not specifically mention the use of special characters but recommend the use of multiple characters to increase complexity. I quote and translate:
In conclusion, don't be afraid to use special characters as it is a good practice to include them in the character generation.
Theoretically, there shouldn't be any problem; moreover, the more symbols, the more secure the password.
But be careful with the keyboard layout, sometimes linux comes with the en_US layout and the @, among others, changes its position.
Precisely for greater strength in terms of security, it is suggested to use special characters, there is no restriction.
In addition to special characters, it is also suggested to use lowercase words (a, b, c, etc.), uppercase (A, B, C, etc.), numeric (0, 1, 2, etc.)
See more information here: Special characters in password (English)