Configure Response Mode of ARP Requests for All IPv4 Interfaces

An XCCDF Rule

Description

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

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

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_ignore =

warning alert: Functionality Warning

The ARP response mode may impact behaviour of workloads and firewalls on the system.

Rationale

Avoids ARP Flux on system that have more than one interface on the same subnet.

ID: xccdf_org.ssgproject.content_rule_sysctl_net_ipv4_conf_all_arp_ignore
Severity: Medium
References: BP28(R12)
Updated: about 1 year ago

- name: List /etc/sysctl.d/*.conf files
  find:
    paths:
    - /etc/sysctl.d/
    - /run/sysctl.d/
    - /usr/local/lib/sysctl.d/    contains: ^[\s]*net.ipv4.conf.all.arp_ignore.*$
    patterns: '*.conf'
    file_type: any
  register: find_sysctl_d
  when: ansible_virtualization_type not in ["docker", "lxc", "openvz", "podman", "container"]
  tags:
  - disable_strategy
  - low_complexity
  - medium_disruption
  - medium_severity
  - reboot_required
  - sysctl_net_ipv4_conf_all_arp_ignore

- name: Comment out any occurrences of net.ipv4.conf.all.arp_ignore from config files
  replace:
    path: '{{ item.path }}'
    regexp: ^[\s]*net.ipv4.conf.all.arp_ignore
    replace: '#net.ipv4.conf.all.arp_ignore'
  loop: '{{ find_sysctl_d.files }}'
  when: ansible_virtualization_type not in ["docker", "lxc", "openvz", "podman", "container"]
  tags:
  - disable_strategy
  - low_complexity
  - medium_disruption
  - medium_severity
  - reboot_required
  - sysctl_net_ipv4_conf_all_arp_ignore
- name: XCCDF Value sysctl_net_ipv4_conf_all_arp_ignore_value # promote to variable
  set_fact:
    sysctl_net_ipv4_conf_all_arp_ignore_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_ignore_value" use="legacy"/>
  tags:
    - always

- name: Ensure sysctl net.ipv4.conf.all.arp_ignore is set
  sysctl:
    name: net.ipv4.conf.all.arp_ignore
    value: '{{ sysctl_net_ipv4_conf_all_arp_ignore_value }}'
    sysctl_file: /etc/sysctl.conf
    state: present
    reload: true
  when: ansible_virtualization_type not in ["docker", "lxc", "openvz", "podman", "container"]
  tags:
  - disable_strategy
  - low_complexity
  - medium_disruption
  - medium_severity
  - reboot_required
  - sysctl_net_ipv4_conf_all_arp_ignore

# Remediation is applicable only in certain platforms
if [ ! -f /.dockerenv ] && [ ! -f /run/.containerenv ]; then

# Comment out any occurrences of net.ipv4.conf.all.arp_ignore from /etc/sysctl.d/*.conf files

for f in /etc/sysctl.d/*.conf /run/sysctl.d/*.conf /usr/local/lib/sysctl.d/*.conf; do
  matching_list=$(grep -P '^(?!#).*[\s]*net.ipv4.conf.all.arp_ignore.*$' $f | uniq )
  if ! test -z "$matching_list"; then
    while IFS= read -r entry; do
      escaped_entry=$(sed -e 's|/|\\/|g' <<< "$entry")
      # comment out "net.ipv4.conf.all.arp_ignore" matches to preserve user data
      sed -i "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_ignore_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_ignore_value" use="legacy"/>'


#
# Set runtime for net.ipv4.conf.all.arp_ignore
#
/sbin/sysctl -q -n -w net.ipv4.conf.all.arp_ignore="$sysctl_net_ipv4_conf_all_arp_ignore_value"

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

# shellcheck disable=SC2059
printf -v formatted_output "%s = %s" "$stripped_key" "$sysctl_net_ipv4_conf_all_arp_ignore_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_ignore\\>" "${SYSCONFIG_FILE}"; then
    escaped_formatted_output=$(sed -e 's|/|\\/|g' <<< "$formatted_output")
    LC_ALL=C sed -i --follow-symlinks "s/^net.ipv4.conf.all.arp_ignore\\>.*/$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 Response Mode of ARP Requests for All IPv4 Interfaces

Description

Rationale

Remediation - Ansible

Remediation - Shell Script