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Ensure zypper Removes Previous Package Versions

An XCCDF Rule

Description

zypper should be configured to remove previous software components after new versions have been installed. To configure zypper to remove the previous software components after updating, set the solver.upgradeRemoveDroppedPackages to 1 in /etc/zypp/zypp.conf.

Rationale

Previous versions of software components that are not removed from the information system after updates have been installed may be exploited by some adversaries.

ID
xccdf_org.ssgproject.content_rule_clean_components_post_updating
Severity
Low
References
Updated



Remediation - Shell Script

# Remediation is applicable only in certain platforms
if rpm --quiet -q zypper; then

# 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' <<< "^solver.upgradeRemoveDroppedPackages")

Remediation - Ansible

- name: Gather the package facts
  package_facts:
    manager: auto
  tags:
  - CCE-83186-7
  - DISA-STIG-SLES-12-010570