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PCI-DSS v4.0 Control Baseline for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7

Rules and Groups employed by this XCCDF Profile

  • Uninstall rsh Package

    The rsh package contains the client commands for the rsh services
    Rule Unknown Severity
  • Chat/Messaging Services

    The talk software makes it possible for users to send and receive messages across systems through a terminal session.
    Group
  • Uninstall talk-server Package

    The talk-server package can be removed with the following command:
     $ sudo yum erase talk-server
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Uninstall talk Package

    The <code>talk</code> package contains the client program for the Internet talk protocol, which allows the user to chat with other users on different systems. Talk is a communication program which ...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Telnet

    The telnet protocol does not provide confidentiality or integrity for information transmitted on the network. This includes authentication information such as passwords. Organizations which use tel...
    Group
  • Uninstall telnet-server Package

    The telnet-server package can be removed with the following command:
    $ sudo yum erase telnet-server
    Rule High Severity
  • Remove telnet Clients

    The telnet client allows users to start connections to other systems via the telnet protocol.
    Rule Low Severity
  • TFTP Server

    TFTP is a lightweight version of the FTP protocol which has traditionally been used to configure networking equipment. However, TFTP provides little security, and modern versions of networking oper...
    Group
  • Uninstall tftp-server Package

    The tftp-server package can be removed with the following command:
     $ sudo yum erase tftp-server
    Rule High Severity
  • Remove tftp Daemon

    Trivial File Transfer Protocol (TFTP) is a simple file transfer protocol, typically used to automatically transfer configuration or boot files between systems. TFTP does not support authentication ...
    Rule Low Severity
  • SNMP Server

    The Simple Network Management Protocol allows administrators to monitor the state of network devices, including computers. Older versions of SNMP were well-known for weak security, such as plaintex...
    Group
  • Disable SNMP Server if Possible

    The system includes an SNMP daemon that allows for its remote monitoring, though it not installed by default. If it was installed and activated but is not needed, the software should be disabled an...
    Group
  • Uninstall net-snmp Package

    The net-snmp package provides the snmpd service. The net-snmp package can be removed with the following command:
    $ sudo yum erase net-snmp
    Rule Unknown Severity
  • SSH Server

    The SSH protocol is recommended for remote login and remote file transfer. SSH provides confidentiality and integrity for data exchanged between two systems, as well as server authentication, throu...
    Group
  • Verify Permissions on SSH Server config file

    To properly set the permissions of /etc/ssh/sshd_config, run the command:
    $ sudo chmod 0600 /etc/ssh/sshd_config
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Verify Permissions on SSH Server Private *_key Key Files

    SSH server private keys - files that match the <code>/etc/ssh/*_key</code> glob, have to have restricted permissions. If those files are owned by the <code>root</code> user and the <code>root</code...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Verify Permissions on SSH Server Public *.pub Key Files

    To properly set the permissions of /etc/ssh/*.pub, run the command:
    $ sudo chmod 0644 /etc/ssh/*.pub
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Configure OpenSSH Server if Necessary

    If the system needs to act as an SSH server, then certain changes should be made to the OpenSSH daemon configuration file <code>/etc/ssh/sshd_config</code>. The following recommendations can be app...
    Group
  • Set SSH Client Alive Count Max

    The SSH server sends at most <code>ClientAliveCountMax</code> messages during a SSH session and waits for a response from the SSH client. The option <code>ClientAliveInterval</code> configures time...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Set SSH Client Alive Interval

    SSH allows administrators to set a network responsiveness timeout interval. After this interval has passed, the unresponsive client will be automatically logged out. <br><br> To set this timeout in...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Disable Host-Based Authentication

    SSH's cryptographic host-based authentication is more secure than <code>.rhosts</code> authentication. However, it is not recommended that hosts unilaterally trust one another, even within an organ...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Disable SSH Access via Empty Passwords

    Disallow SSH login with empty passwords. The default SSH configuration disables logins with empty passwords. The appropriate configuration is used if no value is set for <code>PermitEmptyPasswords<...
    Rule High Severity
  • Disable SSH Support for .rhosts Files

    SSH can emulate the behavior of the obsolete rsh command in allowing users to enable insecure access to their accounts via <code>.rhosts</code> files. <br> The default SSH configuration disables su...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Disable SSH Root Login

    The root user should never be allowed to login to a system directly over a network. To disable root login via SSH, add or correct the following line in <code>/etc/ssh/sshd_config</code>: <pre>Pe...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Disable SSH TCP Forwarding

    The <code>AllowTcpForwarding</code> parameter specifies whether TCP forwarding is permitted. To disable TCP forwarding, add or correct the following line in <code>/etc/ssh/sshd_config</code>: <p...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Disable X11 Forwarding

    The X11Forwarding parameter provides the ability to tunnel X11 traffic through the connection to enable remote graphic connections. SSH has the capability to encrypt remote X11 connections when SSH...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Do Not Allow SSH Environment Options

    Ensure that users are not able to override environment variables of the SSH daemon. <br> The default SSH configuration disables environment processing. The appropriate configuration is used if no v...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Enable PAM

    UsePAM Enables the Pluggable Authentication Module interface. If set to “yes” this will enable PAM authentication using ChallengeResponseAuthentication and PasswordAuthentication in addition to PAM...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Limit Users' SSH Access

    By default, the SSH configuration allows any user with an account to access the system. There are several options available to limit which users and group can access the system via SSH. It is recom...
    Rule Unknown Severity
  • Ensure SSH LoginGraceTime is configured

    The <code>LoginGraceTime</code> parameter to the SSH server specifies the time allowed for successful authentication to the SSH server. The longer the Grace period is the more open unauthenticated ...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Set SSH Daemon LogLevel to VERBOSE

    The <code>VERBOSE</code> parameter configures the SSH daemon to record login and logout activity. To specify the log level in SSH, add or correct the following line in <code>/etc/ssh/sshd_config<...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Set SSH authentication attempt limit

    The <code>MaxAuthTries</code> parameter specifies the maximum number of authentication attempts permitted per connection. Once the number of failures reaches half this value, additional failures ar...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Set SSH MaxSessions limit

    The <code>MaxSessions</code> parameter specifies the maximum number of open sessions permitted from a given connection. To set MaxSessions edit <code>/etc/ssh/sshd_config</code> as follows: <pre>Ma...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Ensure SSH MaxStartups is configured

    The MaxStartups parameter specifies the maximum number of concurrent unauthenticated connections to the SSH daemon. Additional connections will be dropped until authentication succeeds or the Login...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Use Only FIPS 140-2 Validated Ciphers

    Limit the ciphers to those algorithms which are FIPS-approved. Counter (CTR) mode is also preferred over cipher-block chaining (CBC) mode. The following line in <code>/etc/ssh/sshd_config</code> de...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Use Only FIPS 140-2 Validated MACs

    Limit the MACs to those hash algorithms which are FIPS-approved. The following line in <code>/etc/ssh/sshd_config</code> demonstrates use of FIPS-approved MACs: <pre>MACs hmac-sha2-512,hmac-sha2-2...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Use Only Strong Key Exchange algorithms

    Limit the Key Exchange to strong algorithms. The following line in <code>/etc/ssh/sshd_config</code> demonstrates use of those: <pre>KexAlgorithms <xccdf-1.2:sub idref="xccdf_org.ssgproject.content...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Ensure the Group Used by pam_wheel.so Module Exists on System and is Empty

    Ensure that the group <code><xccdf-1.2:sub idref="xccdf_org.ssgproject.content_value_var_pam_wheel_group_for_su" use="legacy"></xccdf-1.2:sub></code> referenced by <code>var_pam_wheel_group_for_su<...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Ensure Authentication Required for Single User Mode

    Single user mode is used for recovery when the system detects an issue during boot or by manual selection from the bootloader.
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Enforce Usage of pam_wheel with Group Parameter for su Authentication

    To ensure that only users who are members of the group set in the <code>group</code> option of <code>pam_wheel.so</code> module can run commands with altered privileges through the <code>su</code> ...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Record Attempts to perform maintenance activities

    The Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 operating system must generate audit records for privileged activities, nonlocal maintenance, diagnostic sessions and other system-level access. Verify the operating...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • System Audit Logs Must Be Group Owned By Root

    All audit logs must be group owned by root user. The path for audit log can be configured via <code>log_file</code> parameter in <pre>/etc/audit/auditd.conf</pre> or, by default, the path for audit...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Ensure nftables Default Deny Firewall Policy

    Base chain policy is the default verdict that will be applied to packets reaching the end of the chain. There are two policies: accept (Default) and drop. If the policy is set to accept, the firewa...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Remove ftp Package

    FTP (File Transfer Protocol) is a traditional and widely used standard tool for transferring files between a server and clients over a network, especially where no authentication is necessary (perm...
    Rule Low Severity

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