Configure ARP filtering for All IPv4 Interfaces

An XCCDF Rule

Description

To set the runtime status of the net.ipv4.conf.all.arp_filter kernel parameter, run the following command:

$ sudo sysctl -w net.ipv4.conf.all.arp_filter=

To make sure that the setting is persistent, add the following line to a file in the directory /etc/sysctl.d:

net.ipv4.conf.all.arp_filter =

warning alert: Functionality Warning

This behaviour may cause problems to system on a high availability or load balancing configuration.

Rationale

Prevents the Linux Kernel from handling the ARP table globally. By default, the kernel may respond to an ARP request from a certain interface with information from another interface.

ID: xccdf_org.ssgproject.content_rule_sysctl_net_ipv4_conf_all_arp_filter
Severity: Medium
References: R12
Updated: 5 days ago

- name: Gather the package facts
  package_facts:
    manager: auto
  tags:
  - disable_strategy
  - low_complexity  - medium_disruption
  - medium_severity
  - reboot_required
  - sysctl_net_ipv4_conf_all_arp_filter

- name: List /etc/sysctl.d/*.conf files
  find:
    paths:
    - /etc/sysctl.d/
    - /run/sysctl.d/
    - /usr/local/lib/sysctl.d/
    - /usr/lib/sysctl.d/
    contains: ^[\s]*net.ipv4.conf.all.arp_filter.*$
    patterns: '*.conf'
    file_type: any
  register: find_sysctl_d
  when: '"kernel" in ansible_facts.packages'
  tags:
  - disable_strategy
  - low_complexity
  - medium_disruption
  - medium_severity
  - reboot_required
  - sysctl_net_ipv4_conf_all_arp_filter

- name: Comment out any occurrences of net.ipv4.conf.all.arp_filter from config files
  replace:
    path: '{{ item.path }}'
    regexp: ^[\s]*net.ipv4.conf.all.arp_filter
    replace: '#net.ipv4.conf.all.arp_filter'
  loop: '{{ find_sysctl_d.files }}'
  when: '"kernel" in ansible_facts.packages'
  tags:
  - disable_strategy
  - low_complexity
  - medium_disruption
  - medium_severity
  - reboot_required
  - sysctl_net_ipv4_conf_all_arp_filter
- name: XCCDF Value sysctl_net_ipv4_conf_all_arp_filter_value # promote to variable
  set_fact:
    sysctl_net_ipv4_conf_all_arp_filter_value: !!str <xccdf-1.2:sub xmlns:xccdf-1.2="http://checklists.nist.gov/xccdf/1.2" idref="xccdf_org.ssgproject.content_value_sysctl_net_ipv4_conf_all_arp_filter_value" use="legacy"/>
  tags:
    - always

- name: Ensure sysctl net.ipv4.conf.all.arp_filter is set
  sysctl:
    name: net.ipv4.conf.all.arp_filter
    value: '{{ sysctl_net_ipv4_conf_all_arp_filter_value }}'
    sysctl_file: /etc/sysctl.conf
    state: present
    reload: true
  when: '"kernel" in ansible_facts.packages'
  tags:
  - disable_strategy
  - low_complexity
  - medium_disruption
  - medium_severity
  - reboot_required
  - sysctl_net_ipv4_conf_all_arp_filter

# Remediation is applicable only in certain platforms
if dpkg-query --show --showformat='${db:Status-Status}
' 'kernel' 2>/dev/null | grep -q installed; then

# Comment out any occurrences of net.ipv4.conf.all.arp_filter from /etc/sysctl.d/*.conf files
for f in /etc/sysctl.d/*.conf /run/sysctl.d/*.conf /usr/local/lib/sysctl.d/*.conf /usr/lib/sysctl.d/*.conf; do


  # skip systemd-sysctl symlink (/etc/sysctl.d/99-sysctl.conf -> /etc/sysctl.conf)
  if [[ "$(readlink -f "$f")" == "/etc/sysctl.conf" ]]; then continue; fi

  matching_list=$(grep -P '^(?!#).*[\s]*net.ipv4.conf.all.arp_filter.*$' $f | uniq )
  if ! test -z "$matching_list"; then
    while IFS= read -r entry; do
      escaped_entry=$(sed -e 's|/|\\/|g' <<< "$entry")
      # comment out "net.ipv4.conf.all.arp_filter" matches to preserve user data
      sed -i --follow-symlinks "s/^${escaped_entry}$/# &/g" $f
    done <<< "$matching_list"
  fi
done

#
# Set sysctl config file which to save the desired value
#

SYSCONFIG_FILE="/etc/sysctl.conf"

sysctl_net_ipv4_conf_all_arp_filter_value='<xccdf-1.2:sub xmlns:xccdf-1.2="http://checklists.nist.gov/xccdf/1.2" idref="xccdf_org.ssgproject.content_value_sysctl_net_ipv4_conf_all_arp_filter_value" use="legacy"/>'


#
# Set runtime for net.ipv4.conf.all.arp_filter
#
/sbin/sysctl -q -n -w net.ipv4.conf.all.arp_filter="$sysctl_net_ipv4_conf_all_arp_filter_value"

#
# If net.ipv4.conf.all.arp_filter present in /etc/sysctl.conf, change value to appropriate value
#	else, add "net.ipv4.conf.all.arp_filter = value" to /etc/sysctl.conf
#

# Strip any search characters in the key arg so that the key can be replaced without
# adding any search characters to the config file.
stripped_key=$(sed 's/[\^=\$,;+]*//g' <<< "^net.ipv4.conf.all.arp_filter")

# shellcheck disable=SC2059
printf -v formatted_output "%s = %s" "$stripped_key" "$sysctl_net_ipv4_conf_all_arp_filter_value"

# If the key exists, change it. Otherwise, add it to the config_file.
# We search for the key string followed by a word boundary (matched by \>),
# so if we search for 'setting', 'setting2' won't match.
if LC_ALL=C grep -q -m 1 -i -e "^net.ipv4.conf.all.arp_filter\\>" "${SYSCONFIG_FILE}"; then
    escaped_formatted_output=$(sed -e 's|/|\\/|g' <<< "$formatted_output")
    LC_ALL=C sed -i --follow-symlinks "s/^net.ipv4.conf.all.arp_filter\\>.*/$escaped_formatted_output/gi" "${SYSCONFIG_FILE}"
else
    if [[ -s "${SYSCONFIG_FILE}" ]] && [[ -n "$(tail -c 1 -- "${SYSCONFIG_FILE}" || true)" ]]; then
        LC_ALL=C sed -i --follow-symlinks '$a'\\ "${SYSCONFIG_FILE}"
    fi
    printf '%s\n' "$formatted_output" >> "${SYSCONFIG_FILE}"
fi

else
    >&2 echo 'Remediation is not applicable, nothing was done'
fi

Configure ARP filtering for All IPv4 Interfaces

Description

Rationale

Remediation - Ansible

Remediation - Shell Script