Disable Kernel Parameter for Accepting Source-Routed Packets on IPv6 Interfaces by Default

An XCCDF Rule

Description

To set the runtime status of the net.ipv6.conf.default.accept_source_route kernel parameter, run the following command:

$ sudo sysctl -w net.ipv6.conf.default.accept_source_route=0

To make sure that the setting is persistent, add the following line to a file in the directory /etc/sysctl.d:

net.ipv6.conf.default.accept_source_route = 0

Rationale

Source-routed packets allow the source of the packet to suggest routers forward the packet along a different path than configured on the router, which can be used to bypass network security measures. This requirement applies only to the forwarding of source-routerd traffic, such as when IPv6 forwarding is enabled and the system is functioning as a router. Accepting source-routed packets in the IPv6 protocol has few legitimate uses. It should be disabled unless it is absolutely required.

ID: xccdf_org.ssgproject.content_rule_sysctl_net_ipv6_conf_default_accept_source_route
Severity: Medium
References: BP28(R22)

1 12 13 14 15 16 18 4 6 8 9

APO01.06 APO13.01 DSS01.05 DSS03.01 DSS05.02 DSS05.04 DSS05.07 DSS06.02

3.1.20

CCI-000366

4.2.3.4 4.3.3.4 4.4.3.3

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.10.1.1 A.11.1.4 A.11.1.5 A.11.2.1 A.12.1.1 A.12.1.2 A.13.1.1 A.13.1.2 A.13.1.3 A.13.2.1 A.13.2.2 A.13.2.3 A.13.2.4 A.14.1.2 A.14.1.3 A.6.1.2 A.7.1.1 A.7.1.2 A.7.3.1 A.8.2.2 A.8.2.3 A.9.1.1 A.9.1.2 A.9.2.3 A.9.4.1 A.9.4.4 A.9.4.5

CM-6(a) CM-6(b) CM-6.1(iv) CM-7(a) CM-7(b)

DE.AE-1 ID.AM-3 PR.AC-5 PR.DS-5 PR.PT-4

Req-1.4.3

SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227

3.3.1

1.4.2
Updated: about 1 year ago

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

# Comment out any occurrences of net.ipv6.conf.default.accept_source_route from /etc/sysctl.d/*.conf files

for f in /etc/sysctl.d/*.conf /run/sysctl.d/*.conf /usr/local/lib/sysctl.d/*.conf /usr/lib/sysctl.d/*.conf; do
  matching_list=$(grep -P '^(?!#).*[\s]*net.ipv6.conf.default.accept_source_route.*$' $f | uniq )
  if ! test -z "$matching_list"; then
    while IFS= read -r entry; do
      escaped_entry=$(sed -e 's|/|\\/|g' <<< "$entry")
      # comment out "net.ipv6.conf.default.accept_source_route" 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_ipv6_conf_default_accept_source_route_value='<xccdf-1.2:sub xmlns:xccdf-1.2="http://checklists.nist.gov/xccdf/1.2" idref="xccdf_org.ssgproject.content_value_sysctl_net_ipv6_conf_default_accept_source_route_value" use="legacy"/>'


#
# Set runtime for net.ipv6.conf.default.accept_source_route
#
/sbin/sysctl -q -n -w net.ipv6.conf.default.accept_source_route="$sysctl_net_ipv6_conf_default_accept_source_route_value"

#
# If net.ipv6.conf.default.accept_source_route present in /etc/sysctl.conf, change value to appropriate value
#	else, add "net.ipv6.conf.default.accept_source_route = 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.ipv6.conf.default.accept_source_route")

# shellcheck disable=SC2059
printf -v formatted_output "%s = %s" "$stripped_key" "$sysctl_net_ipv6_conf_default_accept_source_route_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.ipv6.conf.default.accept_source_route\\>" "${SYSCONFIG_FILE}"; then
    escaped_formatted_output=$(sed -e 's|/|\\/|g' <<< "$formatted_output")
    LC_ALL=C sed -i --follow-symlinks "s/^net.ipv6.conf.default.accept_source_route\\>.*/$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

- name: List /etc/sysctl.d/*.conf files
  find:
    paths:
    - /etc/sysctl.d/
    - /run/sysctl.d/
    - /usr/local/lib/sysctl.d/    - /usr/lib/sysctl.d/
    contains: ^[\s]*net.ipv6.conf.default.accept_source_route.*$
    patterns: '*.conf'
    file_type: any
  register: find_sysctl_d
  when: ansible_virtualization_type not in ["docker", "lxc", "openvz", "podman", "container"]
  tags:
  - NIST-800-171-3.1.20
  - NIST-800-53-CM-6(a)
  - NIST-800-53-CM-6(b)
  - NIST-800-53-CM-6.1(iv)
  - NIST-800-53-CM-7(a)
  - NIST-800-53-CM-7(b)
  - PCI-DSS-Req-1.4.3
  - PCI-DSSv4-1.4.2
  - disable_strategy
  - low_complexity
  - medium_disruption
  - medium_severity
  - reboot_required
  - sysctl_net_ipv6_conf_default_accept_source_route

- name: Comment out any occurrences of net.ipv6.conf.default.accept_source_route from
    config files
  replace:
    path: '{{ item.path }}'
    regexp: ^[\s]*net.ipv6.conf.default.accept_source_route
    replace: '#net.ipv6.conf.default.accept_source_route'
  loop: '{{ find_sysctl_d.files }}'
  when: ansible_virtualization_type not in ["docker", "lxc", "openvz", "podman", "container"]
  tags:
  - NIST-800-171-3.1.20
  - NIST-800-53-CM-6(a)
  - NIST-800-53-CM-6(b)
  - NIST-800-53-CM-6.1(iv)
  - NIST-800-53-CM-7(a)
  - NIST-800-53-CM-7(b)
  - PCI-DSS-Req-1.4.3
  - PCI-DSSv4-1.4.2
  - disable_strategy
  - low_complexity
  - medium_disruption
  - medium_severity
  - reboot_required
  - sysctl_net_ipv6_conf_default_accept_source_route
- name: XCCDF Value sysctl_net_ipv6_conf_default_accept_source_route_value # promote to variable
  set_fact:
    sysctl_net_ipv6_conf_default_accept_source_route_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_ipv6_conf_default_accept_source_route_value" use="legacy"/>
  tags:
    - always

- name: Ensure sysctl net.ipv6.conf.default.accept_source_route is set
  sysctl:
    name: net.ipv6.conf.default.accept_source_route
    value: '{{ sysctl_net_ipv6_conf_default_accept_source_route_value }}'
    sysctl_file: /etc/sysctl.conf
    state: present
    reload: true
  when: ansible_virtualization_type not in ["docker", "lxc", "openvz", "podman", "container"]
  tags:
  - NIST-800-171-3.1.20
  - NIST-800-53-CM-6(a)
  - NIST-800-53-CM-6(b)
  - NIST-800-53-CM-6.1(iv)
  - NIST-800-53-CM-7(a)
  - NIST-800-53-CM-7(b)
  - PCI-DSS-Req-1.4.3
  - PCI-DSSv4-1.4.2
  - disable_strategy
  - low_complexity
  - medium_disruption
  - medium_severity
  - reboot_required
  - sysctl_net_ipv6_conf_default_accept_source_route

Disable Kernel Parameter for Accepting Source-Routed Packets on IPv6 Interfaces by Default

Description

Rationale

Remediation - Shell Script

Remediation - Ansible