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RHEL 8 must ensure the SSH server uses strong entropy.

An XCCDF Rule

Description

The most important characteristic of a random number generator is its randomness, namely its ability to deliver random numbers that are impossible to predict. Entropy in computer security is associated with the unpredictability of a source of randomness. The random source with high entropy tends to achieve a uniform distribution of random values. Random number generators are one of the most important building blocks of cryptosystems. The SSH implementation in RHEL 8 uses the OPENSSL library, which does not use high-entropy sources by default. By using the SSH_USE_STRONG_RNG environment variable the OPENSSL random generator is reseeded from /dev/random. This setting is not recommended on computers without the hardware random generator because insufficient entropy causes the connection to be blocked until enough entropy is available.

ID
SV-230253r1044799_rule
Version
RHEL-08-010292
Severity
Low
References
Updated

Remediation Templates

A Manual Procedure

Configure the operating system SSH server to use strong entropy.

Add or modify the following line in the "/etc/sysconfig/sshd" file.

SSH_USE_STRONG_RNG=32