Configure Kernel to Rate Limit Sending of Duplicate TCP Acknowledgments

An XCCDF Rule

Description

Make sure that the system is configured to limit the maximal rate for sending duplicate acknowledgments in response to incoming TCP packets that are for an existing connection but that are invalid due to any of these reasons: (a) out-of-window sequence number, (b) out-of-window acknowledgment number, or (c) PAWS (Protection Against Wrapped Sequence numbers) check failure This measure protects against or limits effects of DoS attacks against the system. Set the system to implement rate-limiting measures by adding the following line to /etc/sysctl.conf or a configuration file in the /etc/sysctl.d/ directory (or modify the line to have the required value):

net.ipv4.tcp_invalid_ratelimit =

Issue the following command to make the changes take effect:

# sysctl --system

Rationale

Denial of Service (DoS) is a condition when a resource is not available for legitimate users. When this occurs, the organization either cannot accomplish its mission or must operate at degraded capacity.

This can help mitigate simple “ack loop” DoS attacks, wherein a buggy or malicious middlebox or man-in-the-middle can rewrite TCP header fields in manner that causes each endpoint to think that the other is sending invalid TCP segments, thus causing each side to send an unterminating stream of duplicate acknowledgments for invalid segments.

ID: xccdf_org.ssgproject.content_rule_sysctl_net_ipv4_tcp_invalid_ratelimit
Severity: Medium
References: CCI-002385

CIP-007-3 R4 CIP-007-3 R4.1 CIP-007-3 R4.2 CIP-007-3 R5.1

SC-5

SRG-OS-000420-GPOS-00186
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.ipv4.tcp_invalid_ratelimit from /etc/sysctl.d/*.conf files

for f in /etc/sysctl.d/*.conf /run/sysctl.d/*.conf /usr/local/lib/sysctl.d/*.conf; do
  matching_list=$(grep -P '^(?!#).*[\s]*net.ipv4.tcp_invalid_ratelimit.*$' $f | uniq )
  if ! test -z "$matching_list"; then
    while IFS= read -r entry; do
      escaped_entry=$(sed -e 's|/|\\/|g' <<< "$entry")
      # comment out "net.ipv4.tcp_invalid_ratelimit" 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_ipv4_tcp_invalid_ratelimit_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_tcp_invalid_ratelimit_value" use="legacy"/>'


#
# Set runtime for net.ipv4.tcp_invalid_ratelimit
#
/sbin/sysctl -q -n -w net.ipv4.tcp_invalid_ratelimit="$sysctl_net_ipv4_tcp_invalid_ratelimit_value"

#
# If net.ipv4.tcp_invalid_ratelimit present in /etc/sysctl.conf, change value to appropriate value
#	else, add "net.ipv4.tcp_invalid_ratelimit = 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.tcp_invalid_ratelimit")

# shellcheck disable=SC2059
printf -v formatted_output "%s = %s" "$stripped_key" "$sysctl_net_ipv4_tcp_invalid_ratelimit_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.tcp_invalid_ratelimit\\>" "${SYSCONFIG_FILE}"; then
    escaped_formatted_output=$(sed -e 's|/|\\/|g' <<< "$formatted_output")
    LC_ALL=C sed -i --follow-symlinks "s/^net.ipv4.tcp_invalid_ratelimit\\>.*/$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/    contains: ^[\s]*net.ipv4.tcp_invalid_ratelimit.*$
    patterns: '*.conf'
    file_type: any
  register: find_sysctl_d
  when: ansible_virtualization_type not in ["docker", "lxc", "openvz", "podman", "container"]
  tags:
  - NIST-800-53-SC-5
  - disable_strategy
  - low_complexity
  - medium_disruption
  - medium_severity
  - reboot_required
  - sysctl_net_ipv4_tcp_invalid_ratelimit

- name: Comment out any occurrences of net.ipv4.tcp_invalid_ratelimit from config
    files
  replace:
    path: '{{ item.path }}'
    regexp: ^[\s]*net.ipv4.tcp_invalid_ratelimit
    replace: '#net.ipv4.tcp_invalid_ratelimit'
  loop: '{{ find_sysctl_d.files }}'
  when: ansible_virtualization_type not in ["docker", "lxc", "openvz", "podman", "container"]
  tags:
  - NIST-800-53-SC-5
  - disable_strategy
  - low_complexity
  - medium_disruption
  - medium_severity
  - reboot_required
  - sysctl_net_ipv4_tcp_invalid_ratelimit
- name: XCCDF Value sysctl_net_ipv4_tcp_invalid_ratelimit_value # promote to variable
  set_fact:
    sysctl_net_ipv4_tcp_invalid_ratelimit_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_ipv4_tcp_invalid_ratelimit_value" use="legacy"/>
  tags:
    - always

- name: Ensure sysctl net.ipv4.tcp_invalid_ratelimit is set
  sysctl:
    name: net.ipv4.tcp_invalid_ratelimit
    value: '{{ sysctl_net_ipv4_tcp_invalid_ratelimit_value }}'
    sysctl_file: /etc/sysctl.conf
    state: present
    reload: true
  when: ansible_virtualization_type not in ["docker", "lxc", "openvz", "podman", "container"]
  tags:
  - NIST-800-53-SC-5
  - disable_strategy
  - low_complexity
  - medium_disruption
  - medium_severity
  - reboot_required
  - sysctl_net_ipv4_tcp_invalid_ratelimit

Configure Kernel to Rate Limit Sending of Duplicate TCP Acknowledgments

Description

Rationale

Remediation - Shell Script

Remediation - Ansible