Guide to the Secure Configuration of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9
Rules, Groups, and Values defined within the XCCDF Benchmark
-
Ensure journald is configured to write log files to persistent disk
The journald system may store log files in volatile memory or locally on disk. If the logs are only stored in volatile memory they will we lost upo...Rule Medium Severity -
Disable systemd-journal-remote Socket
Journald supports the ability to receive messages from remote hosts, thus acting as a log server. Clients should not receive data from other hosts....Rule Medium Severity -
Ensure All Logs are Rotated by logrotate
Edit the file <code>/etc/logrotate.d/syslog</code>. Find the first line, which should look like this (wrapped for clarity): <pre>/var/log/message...Group -
Ensure logrotate is Installed
logrotate is installed by default. The <code>logrotate</code> package can be installed with the following command: <pre> $ sudo dnf install logrota...Rule Medium Severity -
Enable rsyslog to Accept Messages via TCP, if Acting As Log Server
The <code>rsyslog</code> daemon should not accept remote messages unless the system acts as a log server. If the system needs to act as a central l...Rule Unknown Severity -
Enable rsyslog to Accept Messages via UDP, if Acting As Log Server
The <code>rsyslog</code> daemon should not accept remote messages unless the system acts as a log server. If the system needs to act as a central l...Rule Unknown Severity -
Ensure rsyslog Does Not Accept Remote Messages Unless Acting As Log Server
The <code>rsyslog</code> daemon should not accept remote messages unless the system acts as a log server. To ensure that it is not listening on the...Rule Medium Severity -
Rsyslog Logs Sent To Remote Host
If system logs are to be useful in detecting malicious activities, it is necessary to send logs to a remote server. An intruder who has compromised...Group -
Remote Log Server
Specify an URI or IP address of a remote host where the log messages will be sent and stored.Value -
Ensure Logs Sent To Remote Host
To configure rsyslog to send logs to a remote log server, open <code>/etc/rsyslog.conf</code> and read and understand the last section of the file,...Rule Medium Severity -
Configure TLS for rsyslog remote logging
Configure <code>rsyslog</code> to use Transport Layer Security (TLS) support for logging to remote server for the Forwarding Output Module in <code...Rule Medium Severity -
Configure CA certificate for rsyslog remote logging
Configure CA certificate for <code>rsyslog</code> logging to remote server using Transport Layer Security (TLS) using correct path for the <code>De...Rule Medium Severity -
Verify Any Configured IPSec Tunnel Connections
Libreswan provides an implementation of IPsec and IKE, which permits the creation of secure tunnels over untrusted networks. As such, IPsec can be ...Rule Medium Severity -
Network Configuration and Firewalls
Most systems must be connected to a network of some sort, and this brings with it the substantial risk of network attack. This section discusses th...Group -
Configure Multiple DNS Servers in /etc/resolv.conf
Determine whether the system is using local or DNS name resolution with the following command: <pre>$ sudo grep hosts /etc/nsswitch.conf hosts: fi...Rule Medium Severity -
Prevent non-Privileged Users from Modifying Network Interfaces using nmcli
By default, non-privileged users are given permissions to modify networking interfaces and configurations using the <code>nmcli</code> command. Non...Rule Medium Severity -
Ensure System is Not Acting as a Network Sniffer
The system should not be acting as a network sniffer, which can capture all traffic on the network to which it is connected. Run the following to d...Rule Medium Severity -
firewalld
The dynamic firewall daemon <code>firewalld</code> provides a dynamically managed firewall with support for network “zones” to assign a level of tr...Group -
Configure Firewalld to Use the Nftables Backend
Firewalld can be configured with many backends, such as nftables.Rule Medium Severity -
Inspect and Activate Default firewalld Rules
Firewalls can be used to separate networks into different zones based on the level of trust the user has decided to place on the devices and traffi...Group -
Install firewalld Package
Thefirewalldpackage can be installed with the following command:$ sudo dnf install firewalld
Rule Medium Severity -
Strengthen the Default Ruleset
The default rules can be strengthened. The system scripts that activate the firewall rules expect them to be defined in configuration files under t...Group -
Configure the Firewalld Ports
Configure the <code>firewalld</code> ports to allow approved services to have access to the system. To configure <code>firewalld</code> to open por...Rule Medium Severity -
Firewalld Must Employ a Deny-all, Allow-by-exception Policy for Allowing Connections to Other Systems
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 incorporates the "firewalld" daemon, which allows for many different configurations. One of these configurations is zone...Rule Medium Severity -
Configure Firewalld to Restrict Loopback Traffic
Configure <code>firewalld</code> to restrict loopback traffic to the <code>lo</code> interface. The loopback traffic must be trusted by assigning ...Rule Medium Severity -
Configure Firewalld to Trust Loopback Traffic
Assign loopback interface to the <code>firewalld</code> <code>trusted</code> zone in order to explicitly allow the loopback traffic in the system. ...Rule Medium Severity -
Set Default firewalld Zone for Incoming Packets
To set the default zone to <code>drop</code> for the built-in default zone which processes incoming IPv4 and IPv6 packets, modify the following lin...Rule Medium Severity -
IPSec Support
Support for Internet Protocol Security (IPsec) is provided with Libreswan.Group -
Install libreswan Package
The libreswan package provides an implementation of IPsec and IKE, which permits the creation of secure tunnels over untrusted networks. The <code>...Rule Medium Severity -
net.ipv4.conf.default.rp_filter
Enables source route verificationValue -
daemons_use_tty SELinux Boolean
default - Default SELinux boolean setting.
on - SELinux boolean is enabled.
off - SELinux boolean is disabled.Value -
iptables and ip6tables
A host-based firewall called <code>netfilter</code> is included as part of the Linux kernel distributed with the system. It is activated by default...Group -
Inspect and Activate Default Rules
View the currently-enforced <code>iptables</code> rules by running the command: <pre>$ sudo iptables -nL --line-numbers</pre> The command is analog...Group -
Verify ip6tables Enabled if Using IPv6
Theip6tablesservice can be enabled with the following command:$ sudo systemctl enable ip6tables.service
Rule Medium Severity -
Verify iptables Enabled
Theiptablesservice can be enabled with the following command:$ sudo systemctl enable iptables.service
Rule Medium Severity -
Set Default ip6tables Policy for Incoming Packets
To set the default policy to DROP (instead of ACCEPT) for the built-in INPUT chain which processes incoming packets, add or correct the following l...Rule Medium Severity -
Set configuration for IPv6 loopback traffic
Configure the loopback interface to accept traffic. Configure all other interfaces to deny traffic to the loopback network.Rule Medium Severity -
Set configuration for loopback traffic
Configure the loopback interface to accept traffic. Configure all other interfaces to deny traffic to the loopback network.Rule Medium Severity -
Strengthen the Default Ruleset
The default rules can be strengthened. The system scripts that activate the firewall rules expect them to be defined in the configuration files <co...Group -
Set Default iptables Policy for Incoming Packets
To set the default policy to DROP (instead of ACCEPT) for the built-in INPUT chain which processes incoming packets, add or correct the following l...Rule Medium Severity -
dbadm_exec_content SELinux Boolean
default - Default SELinux boolean setting.
on - SELinux boolean is enabled.
off - SELinux boolean is disabled.Value -
Set Default iptables Policy for Forwarded Packets
To set the default policy to DROP (instead of ACCEPT) for the built-in FORWARD chain which processes packets that will be forwarded from one interf...Rule Medium Severity -
Restrict ICMP Message Types
In <code>/etc/sysconfig/iptables</code>, the accepted ICMP messages types can be restricted. To accept only ICMP echo reply, destination unreachabl...Group -
Log and Drop Packets with Suspicious Source Addresses
Packets with non-routable source addresses should be rejected, as they may indicate spoofing. Because the modified policy will reject non-matching ...Group -
IPv6
The system includes support for Internet Protocol version 6. A major and often-mentioned improvement over IPv4 is its enormous increase in the numb...Group -
Disable Support for IPv6 Unless Needed
Despite configuration that suggests support for IPv6 has been disabled, link-local IPv6 address auto-configuration occurs even when only an IPv4 ad...Group -
Ensure IPv6 is disabled through kernel boot parameter
To disable IPv6 protocol support in the Linux kernel, add the argument <code>ipv6.disable=1</code> to the default GRUB2 command line for the Linux ...Rule Low Severity -
Disable IPv6 Networking Support Automatic Loading
To prevent the IPv6 kernel module (<code>ipv6</code>) from binding to the IPv6 networking stack, add the following line to <code>/etc/modprobe.d/di...Rule Medium Severity -
Disable IPv6 Addressing on All IPv6 Interfaces
To disable support for (<code>ipv6</code>) addressing on all interface add the following line to <code>/etc/sysctl.d/ipv6.conf</code> (or another f...Rule Medium Severity -
net.ipv4.conf.default.secure_redirects
Enable to prevent hijacking of routing path by only allowing redirects from gateways known in routing table. Disable to refuse acceptance of secure...Value
Node 2
The content of the drawer really is up to you. It could have form fields, definition lists, text lists, labels, charts, progress bars, etc. Spacing recommendation is 24px margins. You can put tabs in here, and can also make the drawer scrollable.