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RHV hardening based on STIG for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7

Rules and Groups employed by this XCCDF Profile

  • System Settings

    Contains rules that check correct system settings.
    Group
  • Installing and Maintaining Software

    The following sections contain information on security-relevant choices during the initial operating system installation process and the setup of software updates.
    Group
  • System and Software Integrity

    System and software integrity can be gained by installing antivirus, increasing system encryption strength with FIPS, verifying installed software, enabling SELinux, installing an Intrusion Prevent...
    Group
  • Disable Prelinking

    The prelinking feature changes binaries in an attempt to decrease their startup time. In order to disable it, change or add the following line inside the file <code>/etc/sysconfig/prelink</code>: <...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Software Integrity Checking

    Both the AIDE (Advanced Intrusion Detection Environment) software and the RPM package management system provide mechanisms for verifying the integrity of installed software. AIDE uses snapshots of ...
    Group
  • Verify Integrity with RPM

    The RPM package management system includes the ability to verify the integrity of installed packages by comparing the installed files with information about the files taken from the package metadat...
    Group
  • Verify File Hashes with RPM

    Without cryptographic integrity protections, system executables and files can be altered by unauthorized users without detection. The RPM package management system can check the hashes of installed...
    Rule High Severity
  • Verify and Correct Ownership with RPM

    The RPM package management system can check file ownership permissions of installed software packages, including many that are important to system security. After locating a file with incorrect per...
    Rule High Severity
  • Verify and Correct File Permissions with RPM

    The RPM package management system can check file access permissions of installed software packages, including many that are important to system security. Verify that the file permissions of system ...
    Rule High Severity
  • Verify Integrity with AIDE

    AIDE conducts integrity checks by comparing information about files with previously-gathered information. Ideally, the AIDE database is created immediately after initial system configuration, and t...
    Group
  • Install AIDE

    The aide package can be installed with the following command:
    $ sudo yum install aide
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Build and Test AIDE Database

    Run the following command to generate a new database: <pre>$ sudo /usr/sbin/aide --init</pre> By default, the database will be written to the file <code>/var/lib/aide/aide.db.new.gz</code>. Sto...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Configure Periodic Execution of AIDE

    At a minimum, AIDE should be configured to run a weekly scan. To implement a daily execution of AIDE at 4:05am using cron, add the following line to <code>/etc/crontab</code>: <pre>05 4 * * * root ...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Configure Notification of Post-AIDE Scan Details

    AIDE should notify appropriate personnel of the details of a scan after the scan has been run. If AIDE has already been configured for periodic execution in <code>/etc/crontab</code>, append the fo...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Configure AIDE to Use FIPS 140-2 for Validating Hashes

    By default, the <code>sha512</code> option is added to the <code>NORMAL</code> ruleset in AIDE. If using a custom ruleset or the <code>sha512</code> option is missing, add <code>sha512</code> to th...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Configure AIDE to Verify Access Control Lists (ACLs)

    By default, the <code>acl</code> option is added to the <code>FIPSR</code> ruleset in AIDE. If using a custom ruleset or the <code>acl</code> option is missing, add <code>acl</code> to the appropri...
    Rule Low Severity
  • Configure AIDE to Verify Extended Attributes

    By default, the <code>xattrs</code> option is added to the <code>FIPSR</code> ruleset in AIDE. If using a custom ruleset or the <code>xattrs</code> option is missing, add <code>xattrs</code> to the...
    Rule Low Severity
  • Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS)

    The Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) is a computer security standard which is developed by the U.S. Government and industry working groups to validate the quality of cryptographic mod...
    Group
  • Install the dracut-fips Package

    To enable FIPS, the system requires that the <code>dracut-fips</code> package be installed. The <code>dracut-fips</code> package can be installed with the following command: <pre> $ sudo yum instal...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Enable FIPS Mode in GRUB2

    To ensure FIPS mode is enabled, install package <code>dracut-fips</code>, and rebuild <code>initramfs</code> by running the following commands: <pre> $ sudo yum install dracut-fips dracut -f</pre> ...
    Rule High Severity
  • Operating System Vendor Support and Certification

    The assurance of a vendor to provide operating system support and maintenance for their product is an important criterion to ensure product stability and security over the life of the product. A ce...
    Group
  • The Installed Operating System Is FIPS 140-2 Certified

    To enable processing of sensitive information the operating system must provide certified cryptographic modules compliant with FIPS 140-2 standard. Red Hat Enterprise Linux is supported by Red Hat...
    Rule High Severity
  • Endpoint Protection Software

    Endpoint protection security software that is not provided or supported by Red Hat can be installed to provide complementary or duplicative security capabilities to those provided by the base pla...
    Group
  • Install Virus Scanning Software

    Virus scanning software can be used to protect a system from penetration from computer viruses and to limit their spread through intermediate systems. The virus scanning software should be configu...
    Rule High Severity
  • Install Intrusion Detection Software

    The base Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 platform already includes a sophisticated auditing system that can detect intruder activity, as well as SELinux, which provides host-based intrusion prevention c...
    Rule High Severity
  • Disk Partitioning

    To ensure separation and protection of data, there are top-level system directories which should be placed on their own physical partition or logical volume. The installer's default partitioning sc...
    Group
  • Encrypt Partitions

    Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 natively supports partition encryption through the Linux Unified Key Setup-on-disk-format (LUKS) technology. The easiest way to encrypt a partition is during installation...
    Rule High Severity
  • Ensure /home Located On Separate Partition

    If user home directories will be stored locally, create a separate partition for <code>/home</code> at installation time (or migrate it later using LVM). If <code>/home</code> will be mounted from ...
    Rule Low Severity
  • Ensure /tmp Located On Separate Partition

    The /tmp directory is a world-writable directory used for temporary file storage. Ensure it has its own partition or logical volume at installation time, or migrate it using LVM.
    Rule Low Severity
  • Ensure /var Located On Separate Partition

    The <code>/var</code> directory is used by daemons and other system services to store frequently-changing data. Ensure that <code>/var</code> has its own partition or logical volume at installation...
    Rule Low Severity
  • Ensure /var/log/audit Located On Separate Partition

    Audit logs are stored in the <code>/var/log/audit</code> directory. Ensure that <code>/var/log/audit</code> has its own partition or logical volume at installation time, or migrate it using LVM. M...
    Rule Low Severity
  • GNOME Desktop Environment

    GNOME is a graphical desktop environment bundled with many Linux distributions that allow users to easily interact with the operating system graphically rather than textually. The GNOME Graphical D...
    Group
  • Remove the GDM Package Group

    By removing the <code>gdm</code> package, the system no longer has GNOME installed installed. If X Windows is not installed then the system cannot boot into graphical user mode. This prevents the...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Sudo

    <code>Sudo</code>, which stands for "su 'do'", provides the ability to delegate authority to certain users, groups of users, or system administrators. When configured for system users and/or groups...
    Group
  • Ensure Users Re-Authenticate for Privilege Escalation - sudo !authenticate

    The sudo <code>!authenticate</code> option, when specified, allows a user to execute commands using sudo without having to authenticate. This should be disabled by making sure that the <code>!authe...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Only the VDSM User Can Use sudo NOPASSWD

    The sudo <code>NOPASSWD</code> tag, when specified, allows a user to execute commands using sudo without having to authenticate. Only the <code>vdsm</code> user should have this capability in any s...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Updating Software

    The <code>yum</code> command line tool is used to install and update software packages. The system also provides a graphical software update tool in the <b>System</b> menu, in the <b>Administration...
    Group
  • Ensure yum Removes Previous Package Versions

    <code>yum</code> should be configured to remove previous software components after new versions have been installed. To configure <code>yum</code> to remove the previous software components after ...
    Rule Low Severity
  • Ensure gpgcheck Enabled In Main yum Configuration

    The <code>gpgcheck</code> option controls whether RPM packages' signatures are always checked prior to installation. To configure yum to check package signatures before installing them, ensure the ...
    Rule High Severity
  • Ensure gpgcheck Enabled for Local Packages

    <code>yum</code> should be configured to verify the signature(s) of local packages prior to installation. To configure <code>yum</code> to verify signatures of local packages, set the <code>localpk...
    Rule High Severity
  • Ensure gpgcheck Enabled for All yum Package Repositories

    To ensure signature checking is not disabled for any repos, remove any lines from files in /etc/yum.repos.d of the form:
    gpgcheck=0
    Rule High Severity
  • Ensure Red Hat GPG Key Installed

    To ensure the system can cryptographically verify base software packages come from Red Hat (and to connect to the Red Hat Network to receive them), the Red Hat GPG key must properly be installed. T...
    Rule High Severity
  • Ensure Software Patches Installed

    If the system is joined to the Red Hat Network, a Red Hat Satellite Server, or a yum server, run the following command to install updates: <pre>$ sudo yum update</pre> If the system is not configu...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Account and Access Control

    In traditional Unix security, if an attacker gains shell access to a certain login account, they can perform any action or access any file to which that account has access. Therefore, making it mor...
    Group
  • Warning Banners for System Accesses

    Each system should expose as little information about itself as possible. <br><br> System banners, which are typically displayed just before a login prompt, give out information about the service o...
    Group
  • Modify the System Login Banner

    To configure the system login banner edit <code>/etc/issue</code>. Replace the default text with a message compliant with the local site policy or a legal disclaimer. The DoD required text is ei...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Protect Accounts by Configuring PAM

    PAM, or Pluggable Authentication Modules, is a system which implements modular authentication for Linux programs. PAM provides a flexible and configurable architecture for authentication, and it sh...
    Group
  • Ensure PAM Displays Last Logon/Access Notification

    To configure the system to notify users of last logon/access using <code>pam_lastlog</code>, add or correct the <code>pam_lastlog</code> settings in <code>/etc/pam.d/postlogin</code> to include <co...
    Rule Low Severity
  • Set Lockouts for Failed Password Attempts

    The <code>pam_faillock</code> PAM module provides the capability to lock out user accounts after a number of failed login attempts. Its documentation is available in <code>/usr/share/doc/pam-VERSIO...
    Group
  • Limit Password Reuse

    Do not allow users to reuse recent passwords. This can be accomplished by using the remember option for the pam_unix or pam_pwhistory PAM modules.
    Rule Medium Severity

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