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Verify Group Who Owns SSH Server config file

An XCCDF Rule

Description

To properly set the group owner of /etc/ssh/sshd_config, run the command:

$ sudo chgrp root /etc/ssh/sshd_config

Rationale

Service configuration files enable or disable features of their respective services that if configured incorrectly can lead to insecure and vulnerable configurations. Therefore, service configuration files should be owned by the correct group to prevent unauthorized changes.

ID
xccdf_org.ssgproject.content_rule_file_groupowner_sshd_config
Severity
Medium
References
Updated



Remediation - Shell Script

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

chgrp 0 /etc/ssh/sshd_config

else

Remediation - Ansible

- name: Test for existence /etc/ssh/sshd_config
  stat:
    path: /etc/ssh/sshd_config
  register: file_exists
  when: ansible_virtualization_type not in ["docker", "lxc", "openvz", "podman", "container"]
  tags: