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Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) ISM Official

Rules and Groups employed by this XCCDF Profile

  • 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 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
  • 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
  • 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
  • Enable SSH Server firewalld Firewall Exception

    If the SSH server is in use, inbound connections to SSH's port should be allowed to permit remote access through SSH. In more restrictive firewalld settings, the SSH port should be added to the pro...
    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 GSSAPI Authentication

    Unless needed, SSH should not permit extraneous or unnecessary authentication mechanisms like GSSAPI. <br> The default SSH configuration disallows authentications based on GSSAPI. The appropriate c...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Disable Kerberos Authentication

    Unless needed, SSH should not permit extraneous or unnecessary authentication mechanisms like Kerberos. <br> The default SSH configuration disallows authentication validation through Kerberos. The ...
    Rule Medium 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 Support for User Known Hosts

    SSH can allow system users to connect to systems if a cache of the remote systems public keys is available. This should be disabled. <br> <br> To ensure this behavior is disabled, add or c...
    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 Use of Strict Mode Checking

    SSHs <code>StrictModes</code> option checks file and ownership permissions in the user's home directory <code>.ssh</code> folder before accepting login. If world- writable permissions are found, lo...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Enable SSH Warning Banner

    To enable the warning banner and ensure it is consistent across the system, add or correct the following line in <code>/etc/ssh/sshd_config</code>: <pre>Banner /etc/issue</pre> Another section c...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Enable SSH Print Last Log

    Ensure that SSH will display the date and time of the last successful account logon. <br> The default SSH configuration enables print of the date and time of the last login. The appropriate configu...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Set LogLevel to INFO

    The INFO parameter specifices that record login and logout activity will be logged. <br> The default SSH configuration sets the log level to INFO. The appropriate configuration is used if no value ...
    Rule Low 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
  • Distribute the SSH Server configuration to multiple files in a config directory.

    Make sure to have the <code>Include /etc/ssh/sshd_config.d/*.conf</code> line in the <code>/etc/ssh/sshd_config</code> file. Ideally, don't have any active configuration directives in that file, an...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • System Security Services Daemon

    The System Security Services Daemon (SSSD) is a system daemon that provides access to different identity and authentication providers such as Red Hat's IdM, Microsoft's AD, openLDAP, MIT Kerberos, ...
    Group
  • Enable Smartcards in SSSD

    SSSD should be configured to authenticate access to the system using smart cards. To enable smart cards in SSSD, set <code>pam_cert_auth</code> to <code>True</code> under the <code>[pam]</code> sec...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • USBGuard daemon

    The USBGuard daemon enforces the USB device authorization policy for all USB devices.
    Group
  • Install usbguard Package

    The usbguard package can be installed with the following command:
    $ sudo yum install usbguard
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Enable the USBGuard Service

    The USBGuard service should be enabled. The usbguard service can be enabled with the following command:
    $ sudo systemctl enable usbguard.service
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Enable ExecShield via sysctl

    By default on Oracle Linux 9 64-bit systems, ExecShield is enabled and can only be disabled if the hardware does not support ExecShield or is disabled in /etc/default/grub.
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Prevent non-Privileged Users from Modifying Network Interfaces using nmcli

    By default, non-privileged users are given permissions to modify networking interfaces and configurations using the <code>nmcli</code> command. Non-privileged users should not be making configurati...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Enable the auditadm_exec_content SELinux Boolean

    By default, the SELinux boolean <code>auditadm_exec_content</code> is enabled. If this setting is disabled, it should be enabled. To enable the <code>auditadm_exec_content</code> SELinux boolean, ...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Disable the authlogin_nsswitch_use_ldap SELinux Boolean

    By default, the SELinux boolean <code>authlogin_nsswitch_use_ldap</code> is disabled. If this setting is enabled, it should be disabled. To disable the <code>authlogin_nsswitch_use_ldap</code> SEL...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Disable the authlogin_radius SELinux Boolean

    By default, the SELinux boolean <code>authlogin_radius</code> is disabled. If this setting is enabled, it should be disabled. To disable the <code>authlogin_radius</code> SELinux boolean, run the ...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Enable the kerberos_enabled SELinux Boolean

    By default, the SELinux boolean <code>kerberos_enabled</code> is enabled. If this setting is disabled, it should be enabled to allow confined applications to run with Kerberos. To enable the <code...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Chrony Configure Pool and Server

    <code>Chrony</code> is a daemon which implements the Network Time Protocol (NTP). It is designed to synchronize system clocks across a variety of systems and use a source that is highly accurate. M...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Specify Additional Remote NTP Servers

    Depending on specific functional requirements of a concrete production environment, the Oracle Linux 9 system can be configured to utilize the services of the <code>chronyd</code> NTP daemon (the d...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Disable snmpd Service

    The snmpd service can be disabled with the following command:
    $ sudo systemctl mask --now snmpd.service
    Rule Low Severity
  • Configure SNMP Service to Use Only SNMPv3 or Newer

    Edit <code>/etc/snmp/snmpd.conf</code>, removing any references to <code>rocommunity</code>, <code>rwcommunity</code>, or <code>com2sec</code>. Upon doing that, restart the SNMP service: <pre>$ sud...
    Rule Medium Severity

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