To make sure that the setting is persistent, add the following line to a file in the directory /etc/sysctl.d:
net.ipv4.icmp_echo_ignore_broadcasts = 1
Rationale
Responding to broadcast (ICMP) echoes facilitates network mapping
and provides a vector for amplification attacks.
Ignoring ICMP echo requests (pings) sent to broadcast or multicast
addresses makes the system slightly more difficult to enumerate on the network.
ISA-62443-2-1-2009, Security for Industrial Automation and Control Systems Part 2-1: Establishing an Industrial Automation and Control Systems Security Program
# Remediation is applicable only in certain platforms
if rpm --quiet -q kernel; then
# Comment out any occurrences of net.ipv4.icmp_echo_ignore_broadcasts from /etc/sysctl.d/*.conf files
for f in /etc/sysctl.d/*.conf /run/sysctl.d/*.conf /usr/local/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=$(grep -P '^(?!#).*[\s]*net.ipv4.icmp_echo_ignore_broadcasts.*$' $f | uniq )
if ! test -z "$matching_list"; then
while IFS= read -r entry; do
escaped_entry=$(sed -e 's|/|\\/|g' <<< "$entry")
# comment out "net.ipv4.icmp_echo_ignore_broadcasts" 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_icmp_echo_ignore_broadcasts_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_icmp_echo_ignore_broadcasts_value" use="legacy"/>'
#
# Set runtime for net.ipv4.icmp_echo_ignore_broadcasts
#
/sbin/sysctl -q -n -w net.ipv4.icmp_echo_ignore_broadcasts="$sysctl_net_ipv4_icmp_echo_ignore_broadcasts_value"
#
# If net.ipv4.icmp_echo_ignore_broadcasts present in /etc/sysctl.conf, change value to appropriate value
# else, add "net.ipv4.icmp_echo_ignore_broadcasts = value" to /etc/sysctl.conf
#
# Strip any search characters in the key arg so that the key can be replaced without
# adding any search characters to the config file.
stripped_key=$(sed 's/[\^=\$,;+]*//g' <<< "^net.ipv4.icmp_echo_ignore_broadcasts")
# shellcheck disable=SC2059
printf -v formatted_output "%s = %s" "$stripped_key" "$sysctl_net_ipv4_icmp_echo_ignore_broadcasts_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.icmp_echo_ignore_broadcasts\\>" "${SYSCONFIG_FILE}"; then
escaped_formatted_output=$(sed -e 's|/|\\/|g' <<< "$formatted_output")
LC_ALL=C sed -i --follow-symlinks "s/^net.ipv4.icmp_echo_ignore_broadcasts\\>.*/$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