Disable xinetd Service

An XCCDF Rule

Description

The xinetd service can be disabled with the following command:

$ sudo systemctl mask --now xinetd.service

Rationale

The xinetd service provides a dedicated listener service for some programs, which is no longer necessary for commonly-used network services. Disabling it ensures that these uncommon services are not running, and also prevents attacks against xinetd itself.

ID: xccdf_org.ssgproject.content_rule_service_xinetd_disabled
Severity: Medium
References: 11 12 14 15 3 8 9

APO13.01 BAI10.01 BAI10.02 BAI10.03 BAI10.05 DSS01.04 DSS05.02 DSS05.03 DSS05.05 DSS06.06

3.4.7

CCI-000305

164.308(a)(4)(i) 164.308(b)(1) 164.308(b)(3) 164.310(b) 164.312(e)(1) 164.312(e)(2)(ii)

4.3.3.5.1 4.3.3.5.2 4.3.3.5.3 4.3.3.5.4 4.3.3.5.5 4.3.3.5.6 4.3.3.5.7 4.3.3.5.8 4.3.3.6.1 4.3.3.6.2 4.3.3.6.3 4.3.3.6.4 4.3.3.6.5 4.3.3.6.6 4.3.3.6.7 4.3.3.6.8 4.3.3.6.9 4.3.3.7.1 4.3.3.7.2 4.3.3.7.3 4.3.3.7.4 4.3.4.3.2 4.3.4.3.3

SR 1.1 SR 1.10 SR 1.11 SR 1.12 SR 1.13 SR 1.2 SR 1.3 SR 1.4 SR 1.5 SR 1.6 SR 1.7 SR 1.8 SR 1.9 SR 2.1 SR 2.2 SR 2.3 SR 2.4 SR 2.5 SR 2.6 SR 2.7 SR 3.1 SR 3.5 SR 3.8 SR 4.1 SR 4.3 SR 5.1 SR 5.2 SR 5.3 SR 7.1 SR 7.6

A.11.2.6 A.12.1.2 A.12.5.1 A.12.6.2 A.13.1.1 A.13.2.1 A.14.1.3 A.14.2.2 A.14.2.3 A.14.2.4 A.6.2.1 A.6.2.2 A.9.1.2

CM-6(a) CM-7(a) CM-7(b)

PR.AC-3 PR.IP-1 PR.PT-3 PR.PT-4
Updated: about 1 month ago

Remediation Templates

include disable_xinetd
class disable_xinetd {
  service {'xinetd':
    enable => false,
    ensure => 'stopped',
  }
}

[customizations.services]
masked = ["xinetd"]

- name: Gather the package facts
  package_facts:
    manager: auto
  tags:
  - NIST-800-171-3.4.7
  - NIST-800-53-CM-6(a)  - NIST-800-53-CM-7(a)
  - NIST-800-53-CM-7(b)
  - disable_strategy
  - low_complexity
  - low_disruption
  - medium_severity
  - no_reboot_needed
  - service_xinetd_disabled
- name: Disable xinetd Service - Collect systemd Services Present in the System
  ansible.builtin.command: systemctl -q list-unit-files --type service
  register: service_exists
  changed_when: false
  failed_when: service_exists.rc not in [0, 1]
  check_mode: false
  when: '"kernel" in ansible_facts.packages'
  tags:
  - NIST-800-171-3.4.7
  - NIST-800-53-CM-6(a)
  - NIST-800-53-CM-7(a)
  - NIST-800-53-CM-7(b)
  - disable_strategy
  - low_complexity
  - low_disruption
  - medium_severity
  - no_reboot_needed
  - service_xinetd_disabled

- name: Disable xinetd Service - Ensure xinetd.service is Masked
  ansible.builtin.systemd:
    name: xinetd.service
    state: stopped
    enabled: false
    masked: true
  when:
  - '"kernel" in ansible_facts.packages'
  - service_exists.stdout_lines is search("xinetd.service", multiline=True)
  tags:
  - NIST-800-171-3.4.7
  - NIST-800-53-CM-6(a)
  - NIST-800-53-CM-7(a)
  - NIST-800-53-CM-7(b)
  - disable_strategy
  - low_complexity
  - low_disruption
  - medium_severity
  - no_reboot_needed
  - service_xinetd_disabled

- name: Unit Socket Exists - xinetd.socket
  ansible.builtin.command: systemctl -q list-unit-files xinetd.socket
  register: socket_file_exists
  changed_when: false
  failed_when: socket_file_exists.rc not in [0, 1]
  check_mode: false
  when: '"kernel" in ansible_facts.packages'
  tags:
  - NIST-800-171-3.4.7
  - NIST-800-53-CM-6(a)
  - NIST-800-53-CM-7(a)
  - NIST-800-53-CM-7(b)
  - disable_strategy
  - low_complexity
  - low_disruption
  - medium_severity
  - no_reboot_needed
  - service_xinetd_disabled

- name: Disable xinetd Service - Disable Socket xinetd
  ansible.builtin.systemd:
    name: xinetd.socket
    enabled: false
    state: stopped
    masked: true
  when:
  - '"kernel" in ansible_facts.packages'
  - socket_file_exists.stdout_lines is search("xinetd.socket", multiline=True)
  tags:
  - NIST-800-171-3.4.7
  - NIST-800-53-CM-6(a)
  - NIST-800-53-CM-7(a)
  - NIST-800-53-CM-7(b)
  - disable_strategy
  - low_complexity
  - low_disruption
  - medium_severity
  - no_reboot_needed
  - service_xinetd_disabled

# Remediation is applicable only in certain platforms
if rpm --quiet -q kernel; then
SYSTEMCTL_EXEC='/usr/bin/systemctl'
"$SYSTEMCTL_EXEC" stop 'xinetd.service'
"$SYSTEMCTL_EXEC" disable 'xinetd.service'
"$SYSTEMCTL_EXEC" mask 'xinetd.service'# Disable socket activation if we have a unit file for it
if "$SYSTEMCTL_EXEC" -q list-unit-files xinetd.socket; then
    "$SYSTEMCTL_EXEC" stop 'xinetd.socket'
    "$SYSTEMCTL_EXEC" mask 'xinetd.socket'
fi
# The service may not be running because it has been started and failed,
# so let's reset the state so OVAL checks pass.
# Service should be 'inactive', not 'failed' after reboot though.
"$SYSTEMCTL_EXEC" reset-failed 'xinetd.service' || true

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

Disable xinetd Service

Description

Rationale

Remediation Templates

A Puppet Snippet

OS Build Blueprint

An Ansible Snippet

A Shell Script