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CIS Google Container-Optimized OS Benchmark v1.0.0

This document provides terms of use and recommendations for securing Google Container-Optimized OS, including: - Terms of use refer to a link for the current terms of use policy. - The document is intended for system administrators and provides consensus guidance for securing Container-Optimized OS. - Recommendations cover initial setup, filesystem configuration, services, network configuration, and firewall configuration. Specific configuration settings are provided to harden the system and disable unnecessary services.

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0% found this document useful (0 votes)

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CIS Google Container-Optimized OS Benchmark v1.0.0

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CIS Google Container-Optimized OS

Benchmark
v1.0.0 - 12-28-2021
Terms of Use
Please see the below link for our current terms of use:
https://www.cisecurity.org/cis-securesuite/cis-securesuite-membership-terms-of-use/

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Table of Contents

Terms of Use ........................................................................................................................................................... 1

Overview .................................................................................................................................................................. 8
Intended Audience ........................................................................................................................................... 8
Consensus Guidance........................................................................................................................................ 8
Assessment Status............................................................................................................................................ 9
Profile Definitions ......................................................................................................................................... 10
Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................................................... 11
Recommendations ............................................................................................................................................. 13
1 Initial Setup .................................................................................................................................................. 13
1.1 Filesystem Configuration ............................................................................................................... 14
1.1.1 Disable unused filesystems ................................................................................................... 15
1.1.1.1 Ensure mounting of udf filesystems is disabled (Automated) ........................ 16
1.1.2 Ensure /tmp is configured (Automated) .................................................................... 18
1.1.3 Ensure nodev option set on /tmp partition (Automated) ................................... 20
1.1.4 Ensure nosuid option set on /tmp partition (Automated) .................................. 21
1.1.5 Ensure noexec option set on /tmp partition (Automated) .................................. 22
1.1.6 Ensure nosuid option set on /var partition (Automated) .................................... 23
1.1.7 Ensure noexec option set on /var partition (Automated) ................................... 24
1.1.8 Ensure nodev option set on /var partition (Automated) ..................................... 25
1.1.9 Ensure nodev option set on /home partition (Automated) ................................ 26
1.1.10 Ensure nodev option set on /dev/shm partition (Automated) ....................... 28
1.1.11 Ensure nosuid option set on /dev/shm partition (Automated) ..................... 29
1.1.12 Ensure noexec option set on /dev/shm partition (Automated) ..................... 30
1.1.13 Disable Automounting (Automated) ......................................................................... 31
1.2 Filesystem Integrity Checking ...................................................................................................... 33
1.2.1 Ensure dm-verity is enabled (Automated) ................................................................ 34
1.3 Secure Boot Settings ........................................................................................................................ 36
1.3.1 Ensure authentication required for single user mode (Automated) ............... 37
1.4 Additional Process Hardening ..................................................................................................... 39

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1.4.1 Ensure core dumps are restricted (Automated) ...................................................... 40
1.4.2 Ensure XD/NX support is enabled (Automated) ..................................................... 42
1.4.3 Ensure address space layout randomization (ASLR) is enabled (Automated)
................................................................................................................................................................ 44
1.5 Warning Banners............................................................................................................................... 46
1.5.1 Command Line Warning Banners ...................................................................................... 47
1.5.1.1 Ensure message of the day is configured properly (Automated) .................. 48
1.5.1.2 Ensure local login warning banner is configured properly (Automated) .. 50
1.5.1.3 Ensure remote login warning banner is configured properly (Automated)
................................................................................................................................................................ 52
1.5.1.4 Ensure permissions on /etc/motd are configured (Automated) .................. 54
1.5.1.5 Ensure permissions on /etc/issue are configured (Automated) ................... 55
1.5.1.6 Ensure permissions on /etc/issue.net are configured (Automated) ........... 56
1.6 Ensure AppArmor is installed (Automated) ................................................................. 58
2 Services .......................................................................................................................................................... 59
2.1 Special Purpose Services ................................................................................................................ 60
2.1.1 Time Synchronization ............................................................................................................. 61
2.1.1.1 Ensure time synchronization is in use (Manual) ................................................. 62
2.1.1.2 Ensure chrony is configured (Automated) ............................................................. 64
2.1.2 Ensure X Window System is not installed (Automated) ....................................... 66
2.1.3 Ensure NFS and RPC are not enabled (Automated) ............................................... 68
2.1.4 Ensure rsync service is not enabled (Automated) .................................................. 70
3 Network Configuration............................................................................................................................ 72
3.1 Network Parameters (Host Only) ............................................................................................... 73
3.1.1 Ensure packet redirect sending is disabled (Automated) .................................... 74
3.2 Network Parameters (Host and Router) .................................................................................. 76
3.2.1 Ensure source routed packets are not accepted (Automated) ........................... 77
3.2.2 Ensure ICMP redirects are not accepted (Automated) ......................................... 79
3.2.3 Ensure secure ICMP redirects are not accepted (Automated) ........................... 81
3.2.4 Ensure suspicious packets are logged (Automated) .............................................. 83
3.2.5 Ensure broadcast ICMP requests are ignored (Automated) ............................... 85

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3.2.6 Ensure bogus ICMP responses are ignored (Automated) .................................... 87
3.2.7 Ensure Reverse Path Filtering is enabled (Automated)........................................ 89
3.2.8 Ensure TCP SYN Cookies is enabled (Automated) .................................................. 91
3.2.9 Ensure IPv6 router advertisements are not accepted (Automated) ................ 93
3.3 Firewall Configuration .................................................................................................................... 95
3.3.1 Configure IPv6 ip6tables........................................................................................................ 96
3.3.1.1 Ensure IPv6 default deny firewall policy (Automated) ..................................... 98
3.3.1.2 Ensure IPv6 loopback traffic is configured (Automated) ............................... 100
3.3.1.3 Ensure IPv6 outbound and established connections are configured
(Manual) ........................................................................................................................................... 102
3.3.1.4 Ensure IPv6 firewall rules exist for all open ports (Manual) ........................ 104
3.3.2 Configure IPv4 iptables ........................................................................................................ 106
3.3.2.1 Ensure default deny firewall policy (Automated) ............................................. 108
3.3.2.2 Ensure loopback traffic is configured (Automated) ......................................... 110
3.3.2.3 Ensure outbound and established connections are configured (Manual)112
3.3.3 Ensure iptables is installed (Automated) ................................................................. 114
4 Logging and Auditing ............................................................................................................................. 115
4.1 Configure Logging ........................................................................................................................... 116
4.1.1 Configure stackdriver logging agent ............................................................................... 117
4.1.1.1 Ensure correct container image is set for stackdriver logging agent
(Automated) .................................................................................................................................... 118
4.1.1.2 Ensure stackdriver Service is running (Automated) ........................................ 120
4.1.1.3 Ensure logging is configured (Manual) .................................................................. 122
4.1.2 Configure journald.................................................................................................................. 124
4.1.2.1 Ensure journald is configured to compress large log files (Automated) .. 125
4.1.2.2 Ensure journald is configured to write logfiles to persistent disk
(Automated) .................................................................................................................................... 127
4.1.3 Ensure permissions on all logfiles are configured (Automated) ..................... 129
4.2 Ensure logrotate is configured (Manual) ..................................................................... 131
5 Access, Authentication and Authorization ..................................................................................... 133
5.1 SSH Server Configuration ............................................................................................................. 134

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5.1.1 Ensure permissions on /etc/ssh/sshd_config are configured (Automated)
.............................................................................................................................................................. 135
5.1.2 Ensure permissions on SSH private host key files are configured
(Automated) .................................................................................................................................... 136
5.1.3 Ensure permissions on SSH public host key files are configured (Automated)
.............................................................................................................................................................. 138
5.1.4 Ensure SSH Protocol is set to 2 (Automated) .......................................................... 140
5.1.5 Ensure SSH LogLevel is appropriate (Automated) ............................................... 142
5.1.6 Ensure SSH X11 forwarding is disabled (Automated) ......................................... 144
5.1.7 Ensure SSH MaxAuthTries is set to 4 or less (Automated) ................................ 146
5.1.8 Ensure SSH IgnoreRhosts is enabled (Automated) .............................................. 148
5.1.9 Ensure SSH HostbasedAuthentication is disabled (Automated) ..................... 150
5.1.10 Ensure SSH root login is disabled (Automated) .................................................. 152
5.1.11 Ensure SSH PermitEmptyPasswords is disabled (Automated) ..................... 154
5.1.12 Ensure SSH PermitUserEnvironment is disabled (Automated) .................... 156
5.1.13 Ensure only strong Ciphers are used (Automated)............................................ 158
5.1.14 Ensure only strong MAC algorithms are used (Automated) ........................... 161
5.1.15 Ensure only strong Key Exchange algorithms are used (Automated) ........ 164
5.1.16 Ensure SSH Idle Timeout Interval is configured (Automated) ...................... 167
5.1.17 Ensure SSH LoginGraceTime is set to one minute or less (Automated) .... 169
5.1.18 Ensure SSH access is limited (Automated) ............................................................ 171
5.1.19 Ensure SSH warning banner is configured (Automated) ................................. 173
5.1.20 Ensure SSH PAM is enabled (Automated) ............................................................. 174
5.1.21 Ensure SSH AllowTcpForwarding is disabled (Automated) ........................... 176
5.1.22 Ensure SSH MaxStartups is configured (Automated) ....................................... 178
5.1.23 Ensure SSH MaxSessions is set to 4 or less (Automated) ................................ 179
5.2 Configure PAM .................................................................................................................................. 180
5.2.1 Ensure password creation requirements are configured (Automated) ....... 181
5.2.2 Ensure password reuse is limited (Manual)............................................................ 184
5.2.3 Ensure password hashing algorithm is SHA-512 (Manual) .............................. 186
5.3 User Accounts and Environment .............................................................................................. 188

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5.3.1 Set Shadow Password Suite Parameters ....................................................................... 189
5.3.1.1 Ensure password expiration is 365 days or less (Automated) ..................... 190
5.3.1.2 Ensure minimum days between password changes is 7 or more
(Automated) .................................................................................................................................... 192
5.3.1.3 Ensure password expiration warning days is 7 or more (Automated) ..... 194
5.3.1.4 Ensure inactive password lock is 30 days or less (Automated) ................... 196
5.3.1.5 Ensure all users last password change date is in the past (Automated) .. 198
5.3.2 Ensure system accounts are secured (Automated) .............................................. 199
5.3.3 Ensure default group for the root account is GID 0 (Automated) ................... 201
5.3.4 Ensure default user umask is 027 or more restrictive (Automated) ............. 202
5.3.5 Ensure default user shell timeout is 900 seconds or less (Automated) ....... 204
5.4 Ensure root login is restricted to system console (Manual) ................................. 206
5.5 Ensure access to the su command is restricted (Automated) .............................. 207
6 System Maintenance............................................................................................................................... 209
6.1 System File Permissions ............................................................................................................... 210
6.1.1 Ensure permissions on /etc/passwd are configured (Automated) ............... 211
6.1.2 Ensure permissions on /etc/shadow are configured (Automated) ............... 212
6.1.3 Ensure permissions on /etc/group are configured (Automated) ................... 214
6.1.4 Ensure permissions on /etc/gshadow are configured (Automated)............. 215
6.1.5 Ensure permissions on /etc/passwd- are configured (Automated) .............. 217
6.1.6 Ensure permissions on /etc/shadow- are configured (Automated) ............. 218
6.1.7 Ensure permissions on /etc/group- are configured (Automated) ................. 220
6.1.8 Ensure permissions on /etc/gshadow- are configured (Automated) ........... 221
6.2 User and Group Settings ............................................................................................................... 223
6.2.1 Ensure password fields are not empty (Automated) ........................................... 224
6.2.2 Ensure no legacy "+" entries exist in /etc/passwd (Automated) .................... 225
6.2.3 Ensure no legacy "+" entries exist in /etc/shadow (Automated) ................... 226
6.2.4 Ensure no legacy "+" entries exist in /etc/group (Automated) ....................... 227
6.2.5 Ensure root is the only UID 0 account (Automated) ............................................ 228
6.2.6 Ensure root PATH Integrity (Automated) ................................................................ 229
6.2.7 Ensure all users' home directories exist (Automated) ........................................ 231

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6.2.8 Ensure users' home directories permissions are 750 or more restrictive
(Automated) .................................................................................................................................... 233
6.2.9 Ensure users own their home directories (Automated) ..................................... 235
6.2.10 Ensure users' dot files are not group or world writable (Automated) ....... 237
6.2.11 Ensure no users have .forward files (Automated) .............................................. 239
6.2.12 Ensure no users have .netrc files (Automated).................................................... 241
6.2.13 Ensure users' .netrc Files are not group or world accessible (Automated)
.............................................................................................................................................................. 243
6.2.14 Ensure no users have .rhosts files (Automated) ................................................. 245
6.2.15 Ensure all groups in /etc/passwd exist in /etc/group (Automated) .......... 247
6.2.16 Ensure no duplicate UIDs exist (Automated) ....................................................... 248
6.2.17 Ensure no duplicate GIDs exist (Automated) ....................................................... 249
6.2.18 Ensure no duplicate user names exist (Automated) ......................................... 251
6.2.19 Ensure no duplicate group names exist (Automated) ...................................... 252
6.2.20 Ensure shadow group is empty (Automated) ...................................................... 253
Appendix: Recommendation Summary Table ...................................................................................... 254
Appendix: CIS Controls v7 IG 1 Mapped Recommendations .......................................................... 259
Appendix: CIS Controls v7 IG 2 Mapped Recommendations .......................................................... 262
Appendix: CIS Controls v7 IG 3 Mapped Recommendations .......................................................... 266
Appendix: CIS Controls v8 IG 1 Mapped Recommendations .......................................................... 270
Appendix: CIS Controls v8 IG 2 Mapped Recommendations .......................................................... 273
Appendix: CIS Controls v8 IG 3 Mapped Recommendations .......................................................... 276
Appendix: Change History ............................................................................................................................ 279

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Overview
This document provides prescriptive guidance for establishing a secure posture for Linux
systems based on Container-Optimized OS and are running on Google Cloud Platform.
Level-1 recommendations are supported starting from COS-89+.
The guidance within broadly assumes that operations are being performed as the root user.
Operations performed using sudo instead of the root user may produce unexpected results,
or fail to make the intended changes to the system. Non-root users may not be able to
access certain areas of the system, especially after remediation has been performed. It is
advisable to verify root users path integrity and the integrity of any programs being run
prior to execution of commands and scripts included in this benchmark.
To obtain the latest version of this guide, please visit https://www.cisecurity.org/cis-
benchmarks/. If you have questions, comments, or have identified ways to improve this
guide, please write us at [email protected].

Intended Audience
This benchmark is intended for system and application administrators, security specialists,
auditors, help desk, and platform deployment personnel who plan to develop, deploy,
assess, or secure solutions that incorporate Container-Optimized OS and are running on
Google Cloud Platform.

Consensus Guidance
This benchmark was created using a consensus review process comprised of subject
matter experts. Consensus participants provide perspective from a diverse set of
backgrounds including consulting, software development, audit and compliance, security
research, operations, government, and legal.

Each CIS benchmark undergoes two phases of consensus review. The first phase occurs
during initial benchmark development. During this phase, subject matter experts convene
to discuss, create, and test working drafts of the benchmark. This discussion occurs until
consensus has been reached on benchmark recommendations. The second phase begins
after the benchmark has been published. During this phase, all feedback provided by the
Internet community is reviewed by the consensus team for incorporation in the
benchmark. If you are interested in participating in the consensus process, please visit
https://workbench.cisecurity.org/.

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Typographical Conventions

The following typographical conventions are used throughout this guide:

Convention Meaning
Stylized Monospace font Used for blocks of code, command, and script examples.
Text should be interpreted exactly as presented.

Monospace font Used for inline code, commands, or examples. Text should
be interpreted exactly as presented.

<italic font in brackets> Italic texts set in angle brackets denote a variable
requiring substitution for a real value.

Italic font Used to denote the title of a book, article, or other

publication.

Note Additional information or caveats

Assessment Status
An assessment status is included for every recommendation. The assessment status
indicates whether the given recommendation can be automated or requires manual steps
to implement. Both statuses are equally important and are determined and supported as
defined below:

Automated

Represents recommendations for which assessment of a technical control can be fully

automated and validated to a pass/fail state. Recommendations will include the necessary
information to implement automation.

Manual

Represents recommendations for which assessment of a technical control cannot be fully

automated and requires all or some manual steps to validate that the configured state is set
as expected. The expected state can vary depending on the environment.

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Profile Definitions
The following configuration profiles are defined by this Benchmark:

• Level 1 - Server

Items in this profile intend to:

o be practical and prudent;

o provide security focused best practice hardening of a technology; and
o limit impact to the utility of the technology beyond acceptable means.

This profile is intended for servers.

• Level 2 - Server

This profile extends the "Level 1 - Server" profile. Items in this profile exhibit one or
more of the following characteristics:

o are intended for environments or use cases where security is more critical
than manageability and usability
o acts as defense in depth measure
o may impact the utility or performance of the technology
o may include additional licensing, cost, or addition of third party software

This profile is intended for servers.

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Acknowledgements
This benchmark exemplifies the great things a community of users, vendors, and subject matter
experts can accomplish through consensus collaboration. The CIS community thanks the entire
consensus team with special recognition to the following individuals who contributed greatly to
the creation of this guide:

This benchmark is based upon previous Linux benchmarks published and would not be
possible without the contributions provided over the history of all of these benchmarks.
The CIS community thanks everyone who has contributed to the Linux benchmarks.
Contributor
Rael Daruszka
Ron Colvin
Bill Erickson
Dave Billing
Dominic Pace
Elliot Anderson
Ely Pinto
Fredrik Silverskär
Joy Latten
Kirill Antonenko
Koen Laevens
Marcelo Cerri
Mark Birch
Martynas Brijunas
Michel Verbraak
Mike Thompson
Pradeep R B
Rakesh Jain
Robert Thomas
Tom Pietschmann
Vineetha Hari Pai
William E. Triest III
Anurag Pal
Bradley Hieber
Thomas Sjögren
James Trigg
Matthew Woods

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Kenneth Karlsson
Mike Wicks
Anil Altinay

Editor
Jonathan Lewis Christopherson
Eric Pinnell

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Recommendations
1 Initial Setup
Items in this section are advised for all systems, but may be difficult or require extensive
preparation after the initial setup of the system.

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1.1 Filesystem Configuration
Directories that are used for system-wide functions can be further protected by placing
them on separate partitions. This provides protection for resource exhaustion and enables
the use of mounting options that are applicable to the directory's intended use. Users' data
can be stored on separate partitions and have stricter mount options. A user partition is a
filesystem that has been established for use by the users and does not contain software for
system operations.

The recommendations in this section are easier to perform during initial system
installation. If the system is already installed, it is recommended that a full backup be
performed before repartitioning the system.

Note: If you are repartitioning a system that has already been installed, make sure the data
has been copied over to the new partition, unmount it and then remove the data from the
directory that was in the old partition. Otherwise it will still consume space in the old
partition that will be masked when the new filesystem is mounted. For example, if a system
is in single-user mode with no filesystems mounted and the administrator adds a lot of data
to the /tmp directory, this data will still consume space in / once the /tmp filesystem is
mounted unless it is removed first.

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1.1.1 Disable unused filesystems
A number of uncommon filesystem types are supported under Linux. Removing support for
unneeded filesystem types reduces the local attack surface of the system. If a filesystem
type is not needed it should be disabled. Native Linux file systems are designed to ensure
that built-in security controls function as expected. Non-native filesystems can lead to
unexpected consequences to both the security and functionality of the system and should
be used with caution. Many filesystems are created for niche use cases and are not
maintained and supported as the operating systems are updated and patched. Users of
non-native filesystems should ensure that there is attention and ongoing support for them,
especially in light of frequent operating system changes.

Standard network connectivity and Internet access to cloud storage may make the use of
non-standard filesystem formats to directly attach heterogeneous devices much less
attractive.

Note: This should not be considered a comprehensive list of filesystems. You may wish to
consider additions to those listed here for your environment.

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1.1.1.1 Ensure mounting of udf filesystems is disabled (Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 2 - Server

Description:

The udf filesystem type is the universal disk format used to implement ISO/IEC 13346 and
ECMA-167 specifications. This is an open vendor filesystem type for data storage on a
broad range of media. This filesystem type is necessary to support writing DVDs and newer
optical disc formats.

Rationale:

Removing support for unneeded filesystem types reduces the local attack surface of the
system. If this filesystem type is not needed, disable it.

Audit:

Run the following commands and verify the output is as indicated:

# modprobe -n -v udf
install /bin/true
# lsmod | grep udf
<No output>

Remediation:

Edit or create a file in the /etc/modprobe.d/ directory ending in .conf

Example: vim /etc/modprobe.d/udf.conf
and add the following line:

install udf /bin/true

Run the following command to unload the udf module:

# rmmod udf

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CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

4.1 Establish and Maintain a Secure Configuration Process

Establish and maintain a secure configuration process for enterprise assets (end-
v8 user devices, including portable and mobile, non-computing/IoT devices, and servers)
and software (operating systems and applications). Review and update documentation
● ● ●
annually, or when significant enterprise changes occur that could impact this
Safeguard.

4.8 Uninstall or Disable Unnecessary Services on Enterprise

v8 Assets and Software ● ●
Uninstall or disable unnecessary services on enterprise assets and software, such as
an unused file sharing service, web application module, or service function.

5.5 Establish and Maintain an Inventory of Service Accounts

Establish and maintain an inventory of service accounts. The inventory, at a
v8 minimum, must contain department owner, review date, and purpose. Perform service ● ●
account reviews to validate that all active accounts are authorized, on a recurring
schedule at a minimum quarterly, or more frequently.

3.3 Protect Dedicated Assessment Accounts

v7 Use a dedicated account for authenticated vulnerability scans, which should not be
used for any other administrative activities and should be tied to specific machines at
● ●
specific IP addresses.

5.1 Establish Secure Configurations

v7 Maintain documented, standard security configuration standards for all authorized ● ● ●
operating systems and software.

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1.1.2 Ensure /tmp is configured (Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 1 - Server

Description:

The /tmp directory is a world-writable directory used for temporary storage by all users
and some applications.

Rationale:

Making /tmp its own file system allows an administrator to set the noexec option on the
mount, making /tmp useless for an attacker to install executable code. It would also
prevent an attacker from establishing a hardlink to a system setuid program and wait for it
to be updated. Once the program was updated, the hardlink would be broken and the
attacker would have his own copy of the program. If the program happened to have a
security vulnerability, the attacker could continue to exploit the known flaw.

This can be accomplished by either mounting tmpfs to /tmp, or creating a separate

partition for /tmp.

Impact:

Since the /tmp directory is intended to be world-writable, there is a risk of resource

exhaustion if it is not bound to a separate partition.

Running out of /tmp space is a problem regardless of what kind of filesystem lies under it,
but in a default installation a disk-based /tmp will essentially have the whole disk available,
as it only creates a single / partition. On the other hand, a RAM-based /tmp as with tmpfs
will almost certainly be much smaller, which can lead to applications filling up the
filesystem much more easily.

/tmp utalizing tmpfs can be resized using the size={size} parameter on the Options line on
the tmp.mount file

Audit:

Run the following command and verify output shows /tmp is mounted:

# mount | grep -E '\s/tmp\s'

tmpfs on /tmp type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime)

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Run the following command and verify that output shows static

# systemctl is-enabled tmp.mount

static

Remediation:

Run the following commands to configure mount options

systemctl edit tmp.mount

Edit the file to define the options that needs to be set. For example:

[Mount]
Options=
Options=mode=1777,strictatime,noexec,nodev,nosuid

Restart the tmp.mount

systemctl daemon-reload # might be optional

systemctl restart tmp.mount

/etc is stateless on Container-Optimized OS. Therefore, /etc cannot be used to make these
changes persistent across reboots. The steps mentioned above needs to be performed after
every boot.

References:

1. AJ Lewis, "LVM HOWTO", http://tldp.org/HOWTO/LVM-HOWTO/

2. https://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/systemd/APIFileSystems/

CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

3.3 Configure Data Access Control Lists

v8 Configure data access control lists based on a user’s need to know. Apply data
access control lists, also known as access permissions, to local and remote file
● ● ●
systems, databases, and applications.

5.1 Establish Secure Configurations

v7 Maintain documented, standard security configuration standards for all ● ● ●
authorized operating systems and software.

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1.1.3 Ensure nodev option set on /tmp partition (Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 1 - Server

Description:

The nodev mount option specifies that the filesystem cannot contain special devices.

Rationale:

Since the /tmp filesystem is not intended to support devices, set this option to ensure that
users cannot attempt to create block or character special devices in /tmp .

Audit:

Verify that the nodev option is set if a /tmp partition exists

Run the following command and verify that nothing is returned:

# mount | grep -E '\s/tmp\s' | grep -v nodev

Remediation:

Run the following command to remount /tmp :

# mount -o remount,nodev /tmp

/etc is stateless on Container-Optimized OS. Therefore, /etc cannot be used to make these
changes persistent across reboots. The steps mentioned above needs to be performed after
every boot.

CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

3.3 Configure Data Access Control Lists

5.1 Establish Secure Configurations

v7 Maintain documented, standard security configuration standards for all ● ● ●
authorized operating systems and software.

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1.1.4 Ensure nosuid option set on /tmp partition (Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 1 - Server

Description:

The nosuid mount option specifies that the filesystem cannot contain setuid files.

Rationale:

Since the /tmp filesystem is only intended for temporary file storage, set this option to
ensure that users cannot create setuid files in /tmp .

Audit:

Verify that the nosuid option is set if a /tmp partition exists

Run the following command and verify that nothing is returned:

# mount | grep -E '\s/tmp\s' | grep -v nosuid

Remediation:

Run the following command to remount /tmp :

# mount -o remount,nosuid /tmp

/etc is stateless on Container-Optimized OS. Therefore, /etc cannot be used to make these
changes persistent across reboots. The steps mentioned above needs to be performed after
every boot.

CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

3.3 Configure Data Access Control Lists

5.1 Establish Secure Configurations

v7 Maintain documented, standard security configuration standards for all ● ● ●
authorized operating systems and software.

21 | P a g e
1.1.5 Ensure noexec option set on /tmp partition (Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 1 - Server

Description:

The noexec mount option specifies that the filesystem cannot contain executable binaries.

Rationale:

Since the /tmp filesystem is only intended for temporary file storage, set this option to
ensure that users cannot run executable binaries from /tmp .

Audit:

Verify that the noexec option is set if a /tmp partition exists

Run the following command and verify that nothing is returned:

# mount | grep -E '\s/tmp\s' | grep -v noexec

Remediation:

Run the following command to remount /tmp :

# mount -o remount,noexec /tmp

/etc is stateless on Container-Optimized OS. Therefore, /etc cannot be used to make these
changes persistent across reboots. The steps mentioned above needs to be performed after
every boot.

CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

2.3 Address Unauthorized Software

v8 Ensure that unauthorized software is either removed from use on enterprise ● ● ●
assets or receives a documented exception. Review monthly, or more frequently.

2.6 Address unapproved software

v7 Ensure that unauthorized software is either removed or the inventory is updated ● ● ●
in a timely manner

22 | P a g e
1.1.6 Ensure nosuid option set on /var partition (Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 2 - Server

Description:

The nosuid mount option specifies that the filesystem cannot contain setuid files.

Rationale:

Since the /var filesystem is only intended for temporary dynamic data, set this option to
ensure that users cannot create setuid files in /var.

Audit:

Verify that the nosuid option is set if a /var partition exists.

Run the following command and verify that nothing is returned:

# mount | grep -E '\s/var\s' | grep -v nosuid

Remediation:

Run the following command to remount /var :

# mount -o remount,nosuid /var

/etc is stateless on Container-Optimized OS. Therefore, /etc cannot be used to make these
changes persistent across reboots. The steps mentioned above needs to be performed after
every boot.

CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

3.3 Configure Data Access Control Lists

5.1 Establish Secure Configurations

v7 Maintain documented, standard security configuration standards for all ● ● ●
authorized operating systems and software.

23 | P a g e
1.1.7 Ensure noexec option set on /var partition (Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 2 - Server

Description:

The noexec mount option specifies that the filesystem cannot contain executable binaries.

Rationale:

Since the /var filesystem is only intended for services to write data and not execute, set
this option to ensure that users cannot run executable binaries from /var.

Audit:

Verify that the noexec option is set if a /var partition exists.

Run the following command and verify that nothing is returned:

# mount | grep -E '\s/var\s' | grep -v noexec

Remediation:

Run the following command to remount /var :

# mount -o remount,noexec /var

/etc is stateless on Container-Optimized OS. Therefore, /etc cannot be used to make these
changes persistent across reboots. The steps mentioned above needs to be performed after
every boot.

CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

2.3 Address Unauthorized Software

v8 Ensure that unauthorized software is either removed from use on enterprise ● ● ●
assets or receives a documented exception. Review monthly, or more frequently.

2.6 Address unapproved software

v7 Ensure that unauthorized software is either removed or the inventory is updated ● ● ●
in a timely manner

24 | P a g e
1.1.8 Ensure nodev option set on /var partition (Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 2 - Server

Description:

The nodev mount option specifies that the filesystem cannot contain special devices.

Rationale:

Since the /var filesystem is not intended to support devices, set this option to ensure that
users cannot attempt to create block or character special devices in /var .

Audit:

Verify that the nodev option is set if a /var partition exists.

Run the following command and verify that nothing is returned:

# mount | grep -E '\s/var\s' | grep -v nodev

Remediation:

Run the following command to remount /var :

# mount -o remount,nodev /var

/etc is stateless on Container-Optimized OS. Therefore, /etc cannot be used to make these
changes persistent across reboots. The steps mentioned above needs to be performed after
every boot.

CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

3.3 Configure Data Access Control Lists

5.1 Establish Secure Configurations

v7 Maintain documented, standard security configuration standards for all ● ● ●
authorized operating systems and software.

25 | P a g e
1.1.9 Ensure nodev option set on /home partition (Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 1 - Server

Description:

The nodev mount option specifies that the filesystem cannot contain special devices.

Rationale:

Since the user partitions are not intended to support devices, set this option to ensure that
users cannot attempt to create block or character special devices.

Audit:

Verify that the nodev option is set if a /home partition exists.

Run the following command and verify that nothing is returned:

# mount | grep -E '\s/home\s' | grep -v nodev

Remediation:

Run the following command to remount /var :

# mount -o remount,nodev /home

/etc is stateless on Container-Optimized OS. Therefore, /etc cannot be used to make these
changes persistent across reboots. The steps mentioned above needs to be performed after
every boot.

Additional Information:

The actions in this recommendation refer to the /home partition, which is the default user
partition that is defined in many distributions. If you have created other user partitions, it
is recommended that the Remediation and Audit steps be applied to these partitions as
well.

26 | P a g e
CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

3.3 Configure Data Access Control Lists

5.1 Establish Secure Configurations

v7 Maintain documented, standard security configuration standards for all ● ● ●
authorized operating systems and software.

27 | P a g e
1.1.10 Ensure nodev option set on /dev/shm partition (Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 1 - Server

Description:

The nodev mount option specifies that the filesystem cannot contain special devices.

Rationale:

Since the /dev/shm filesystem is not intended to support devices, set this option to ensure
that users cannot attempt to create special devices in /dev/shm partitions.

Audit:

Verify that the nodev option is set if a /dev/shm partition exists.

Run the following command and verify that nothing is returned:

# mount | grep -E '\s/dev/shm\s' | grep -v nodev

Remediation:

Run the following command to remount /dev/shm :

# mount -o remount,nodev /dev/shm

/etc is stateless on Container-Optimized OS. Therefore, /etc cannot be used to make these
changes persistent across reboots. The steps mentioned above needs to be performed after
every boot.

CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

3.3 Configure Data Access Control Lists

5.1 Establish Secure Configurations

v7 Maintain documented, standard security configuration standards for all ● ● ●
authorized operating systems and software.

28 | P a g e
1.1.11 Ensure nosuid option set on /dev/shm partition (Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 1 - Server

Description:

The nosuid mount option specifies that the filesystem cannot contain setuid files.

Rationale:

Setting this option on a file system prevents users from introducing privileged programs
onto the system and allowing non-root users to execute them.

Audit:

Verify that the nosuid option is set if a /dev/shm partition exists.

Run the following command and verify that nothing is returned:

# mount | grep -E '\s/dev/shm\s' | grep -v nosuid

Remediation:

Run the following command to remount /dev/shm :

# mount -o remount,nosuid /dev/shm

/etc is stateless on Container-Optimized OS. Therefore, /etc cannot be used to make these
changes persistent across reboots. The steps mentioned above needs to be performed after
every boot.

CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

3.3 Configure Data Access Control Lists

5.1 Establish Secure Configurations

v7 Maintain documented, standard security configuration standards for all ● ● ●
authorized operating systems and software.

29 | P a g e
1.1.12 Ensure noexec option set on /dev/shm partition (Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 1 - Server

Description:

The noexec mount option specifies that the filesystem cannot contain executable binaries.

Rationale:

Setting this option on a file system prevents users from executing programs from shared
memory. This deters users from introducing potentially malicious software on the system.

Audit:

Verify that the noexec option is set if a /dev/shm partition exists.

Run the following command and verify that nothing is returned:

# mount | grep -E '\s/dev/shm\s' | grep -v noexec

Remediation:

Run the following command to remount /dev/shm:

# mount -o remount,noexec /dev/shm

/etc is stateless on Container-Optimized OS. Therefore, /etc cannot be used to make these
changes persistent across reboots. The steps mentioned above needs to be performed after
every boot.

CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

2.3 Address Unauthorized Software

v8 Ensure that unauthorized software is either removed from use on enterprise ● ● ●
assets or receives a documented exception. Review monthly, or more frequently.

2.6 Address unapproved software

v7 Ensure that unauthorized software is either removed or the inventory is updated ● ● ●
in a timely manner

30 | P a g e
1.1.13 Disable Automounting (Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 1 - Server

Description:

autofs allows automatic mounting of devices, typically including CD/DVDs and USB drives.

Rationale:

With automounting enabled anyone with physical access could attach a USB drive or disc
and have its contents available in system even if they lacked permissions to mount it
themselves.

Impact:

The use of portable hard drives is very common for workstation users. If your organization
allows the use of portable storage or media on workstations and physical access controls to
workstations is considered adequate there is little value add in turning off automounting.

Audit:

# systemctl is-enabled autofs

disabled

Verify result is not "enabled".

Remediation:

Run the following command to disable autofs:

# systemctl disable autofs

Additional Information:

Additional methods of disabling a service exist. Consult your distribution documentation

for appropriate methods.

This control should align with the tolerance of the use of portable drives and optical media
in the organization. On a server requiring an admin to manually mount media can be part
of defense-in-depth to reduce the risk of unapproved software or information being
introduced or proprietary software or information being exfiltrated. If admins commonly

31 | P a g e
use flash drives and Server access has sufficient physical controls, requiring manual
mounting may not increase security.

CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

10.3 Disable Autorun and Autoplay for Removable Media

v8
Disable autorun and autoplay auto-execute functionality for removable media.
● ● ●

10.4 Configure Automatic Anti-Malware Scanning of

v8 Removable Media ● ●
Configure anti-malware software to automatically scan removable media.

8.4 Configure Anti-Malware Scanning of Removable

v7 Devices ● ● ●
Configure devices so that they automatically conduct an anti-malware scan of
removable media when inserted or connected.

8.5 Configure Devices Not To Auto-run Content

v7
Configure devices to not auto-run content from removable media.
● ● ●

32 | P a g e
1.2 Filesystem Integrity Checking
AIDE is a file integrity checking tool, similar in nature to Tripwire. While it cannot prevent
intrusions, it can detect unauthorized changes to configuration files by alerting when the
files are changed. When setting up AIDE, decide internally what the site policy will be
concerning integrity checking. Review the AIDE quick start guide and AIDE documentation
before proceeding.

33 | P a g e
1.2.1 Ensure dm-verity is enabled (Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 1 - Server

Description:

device-mapper-verity (dm-verity) kernel feature provides transparent integrity checking of

block devices using a cryptographic digest provided by the kernel crypto API.

Rationale:

The Container-Optimized OS root filesystem is always mounted as read-only. Additionally,

its checksum is computed at build time and verified by the kernel on each boot. This
mechanism prevents against attackers from "owning" the machine through permanent
local changes.

Audit:

Verify dm-verity is enabled in kernel config with the following command:

# zcat /proc/config.gz | grep CONFIG_DM_VERITY

CONFIG_DM_VERITY=y

Remediation:

An OS image update that has the dm-verity enabled kernel is required.

References:

1. AIDE stable manual: http://aide.sourceforge.net/stable/manual.html

Additional Information:

The prelinking feature can interfere with AIDE because it alters binaries to speed up their
start up times. Run prelink -ua to restore the binaries to their prelinked state, thus
avoiding false positives from AIDE.

34 | P a g e
CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

3.14 Log Sensitive Data Access

v8
Log sensitive data access, including modification and disposal.
●

8.5 Collect Detailed Audit Logs

v8 Configure detailed audit logging for enterprise assets containing sensitive data.
Include event source, date, username, timestamp, source addresses, destination
● ●
addresses, and other useful elements that could assist in a forensic investigation.

14.9 Enforce Detail Logging for Access or Changes to

Sensitive Data
v7 Enforce detailed audit logging for access to sensitive data or changes to sensitive ●
data (utilizing tools such as File Integrity Monitoring or Security Information and
Event Monitoring).

35 | P a g e
1.3 Secure Boot Settings
The recommendations in this section focus on securing the bootloader and settings
involved in the boot process directly.

36 | P a g e
1.3.1 Ensure authentication required for single user mode (Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 1 - Server

Description:

Single user mode (rescue mode) is used for recovery when the system detects an issue
during boot or by manual selection from the bootloader.

Rationale:

Requiring authentication in single user mode (rescue mode) prevents an unauthorized user
from rebooting the system into single user to gain root privileges without credentials.

Audit:

Run the following commands and verify that /sbin/sulogin or /usr/sbin/sulogin is used
as shown:

# grep /systemd-sulogin-shell /usr/lib/systemd/system/rescue.service

ExecStart=-/usr/lib/systemd/systemd-sulogin-shell rescue

# grep /systemd-sulogin-shell /usr/lib/systemd/system/emergency.service

ExecStart=-/usr/lib/systemd/systemd-sulogin-shell emergency

Remediation:

Rootfs is read-only file system. Therefore, update to an OS image which requires single user
mode authentication.

CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

4.1 Establish and Maintain a Secure Configuration Process

37 | P a g e
Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

4.7 Manage Default Accounts on Enterprise Assets and

Software
v8 Manage default accounts on enterprise assets and software, such as root, ● ● ●
administrator, and other pre-configured vendor accounts. Example implementations
can include: disabling default accounts or making them unusable.

5.1 Establish Secure Configurations

v7 Maintain documented, standard security configuration standards for all authorized ● ● ●
operating systems and software.

38 | P a g e
1.4 Additional Process Hardening

39 | P a g e
1.4.1 Ensure core dumps are restricted (Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 2 - Server

Description:

A core dump is the memory of an executable program. It is generally used to determine

why a program aborted. It can also be used to glean confidential information from a core
file. The system provides the ability to set a soft limit for core dumps, but this can be
overridden by the user.

Rationale:

Setting a hard limit on core dumps prevents users from overriding the soft variable. If core
dumps are required, consider setting limits for user groups (see limits.conf(5) ). In
addition, setting the fs.suid_dumpable variable to 0 will prevent setuid programs from
dumping core.

Audit:

Run the following commands and verify output matches:

# grep "hard core" /etc/security/limits.conf /etc/security/limits.d/*

* hard core 0
# sysctl fs.suid_dumpable
fs.suid_dumpable = 0

Run the following commands to check if systemd-coredump is installed:

# systemctl is-enabled [email protected]

# systemctl is-enabled systemd-coredump.socket

if static is returned systemd-coredump is installed

Remediation:

Add the following line to /etc/security/limits.conf or a /etc/security/limits.d/*

file:

* hard core 0

Run the following command to set the active kernel parameter:

# sysctl -w fs.suid_dumpable=0

40 | P a g e
If systemd-coredump@ is installed:
edit /etc/systemd/coredump.conf and add/modify the following lines:

Storage=none
ProcessSizeMax=0

Run the command:

systemctl daemon-reload

/etc is stateless on Container-Optimized OS. Therefore, /etc cannot be used to make these
changes persistent across reboots. The steps mentioned above needs to be performed after
every boot.

CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

5.1 Establish Secure Configurations

v7 Maintain documented, standard security configuration standards for all ● ● ●
authorized operating systems and software.

41 | P a g e
1.4.2 Ensure XD/NX support is enabled (Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 1 - Server

Description:

Recent processors in the x86 family support the ability to prevent code execution on a per
memory page basis. Generically and on AMD processors, this ability is called No Execute
(NX), while on Intel processors it is called Execute Disable (XD). This ability can help
prevent exploitation of buffer overflow vulnerabilities and should be activated whenever
possible. Extra steps must be taken to ensure that this protection is enabled, particularly on
32-bit x86 systems. Other processors, such as Itanium and POWER, have included such
support since inception and the standard kernel for those platforms supports the feature.

Rationale:

Enabling any feature that can protect against buffer overflow attacks enhances the security
of the system.

Audit:

Run the following command and verify your kernel has identified and activated NX/XD
protection.

# journalctl | grep 'protection: active'

kernel: NX (Execute Disable) protection: active

OR
on systems without journalctl

[[ -n $(grep noexec[0-9]*=off /proc/cmdline) || -z $(grep -E -i ' (pae|nx) '

/proc/cpuinfo) || -n $(grep '\sNX\s.*\sprotection:\s' /var/log/dmesg | grep -
v active) ]] && echo "NX Protection is not active"

Nothing should be returned

Remediation:

On 32 bit systems install a kernel with PAE support, no installation is required on 64 bit
systems:
If necessary configure your bootloader to load the new kernel and reboot the system.
You may need to enable NX or XD support in your bios.

42 | P a g e
Additional Information:

Ensure your system supports the XD or NX bit and has PAE support before implementing
this recommendation as this may prevent it from booting if these are not supported by
your hardware.

CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

10.5 Enable Anti-Exploitation Features

v8 Enable anti-exploitation features on enterprise assets and software, where possible,
such as Microsoft® Data Execution Prevention (DEP), Windows® Defender Exploit
● ●
Guard (WDEG), or Apple® System Integrity Protection (SIP) and Gatekeeper™.

8.3 Enable Operating System Anti-Exploitation Features/

Deploy Anti-Exploit Technologies
v7 Enable anti-exploitation features such as Data Execution Prevention (DEP) or ● ●
Address Space Layout Randomization (ASLR) that are available in an operating system
or deploy appropriate toolkits that can be configured to apply protection to a broader
set of applications and executables.

43 | P a g e
1.4.3 Ensure address space layout randomization (ASLR) is enabled
(Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 1 - Server

Description:

Address space layout randomization (ASLR) is an exploit mitigation technique which

randomly arranges the address space of key data areas of a process.

Rationale:

Randomly placing virtual memory regions will make it difficult to write memory page
exploits as the memory placement will be consistently shifting.

Audit:

Run the following command and verify output matches:

# sysctl kernel.randomize_va_space
kernel.randomize_va_space = 2
# grep "kernel\.randomize_va_space" /etc/sysctl.conf /etc/sysctl.d/*
kernel.randomize_va_space = 2

Remediation:

Set the following parameter in /etc/sysctl.conf or a /etc/sysctl.d/* file:

kernel.randomize_va_space = 2

Run the following command to set the active kernel parameter:

# sysctl -w kernel.randomize_va_space=2

CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

10.5 Enable Anti-Exploitation Features

44 | P a g e
Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

8.3 Enable Operating System Anti-Exploitation Features/

45 | P a g e
1.5 Warning Banners
Presenting a warning message prior to the normal user login may assist in the prosecution
of trespassers on the computer system. Changing some of these login banners also has the
side effect of hiding OS version information and other detailed system information from
attackers attempting to target specific exploits at a system.

Guidelines published by the US Department of Defense require that warning messages

include at least the name of the organization that owns the system, the fact that the system
is subject to monitoring and that such monitoring is in compliance with local statutes, and
that use of the system implies consent to such monitoring. It is important that the
organization's legal counsel review the content of all messages before any system
modifications are made, as these warning messages are inherently site-specific. More
information (including citations of relevant case law) can be found at
http://www.justice.gov/criminal/cybercrime/

Note: The text provided in the remediation actions for these items is intended as an
example only. Please edit to include the specific text for your organization as approved by
your legal department.

46 | P a g e
1.5.1 Command Line Warning Banners
The /etc/motd, /etc/issue, and /etc/issue.net files govern warning banners for
standard command line logins for both local and remote users.

47 | P a g e
1.5.1.1 Ensure message of the day is configured properly (Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 2 - Server

Description:

The contents of the /etc/motd file are displayed to users after login and function as a
message of the day for authenticated users.

Unix-based systems have typically displayed information about the OS release and patch
level upon logging in to the system. This information can be useful to developers who are
developing software for a particular OS platform. If mingetty(8) supports the following
options, they display operating system information: \m - machine architecture \r -
operating system release \s - operating system name \v - operating system version

Rationale:

Warning messages inform users who are attempting to login to the system of their legal
status regarding the system and must include the name of the organization that owns the
system and any monitoring policies that are in place. Displaying OS and patch level
information in login banners also has the side effect of providing detailed system
information to attackers attempting to target specific exploits of a system. Authorized users
can easily get this information by running the " uname -a " command once they have logged
in.

Audit:

Run the following command and verify that the contents match site policy:

# cat /etc/motd

Run the following command and verify no results are returned:

# grep -E -i "(\\v|\\r|\\m|\\s|$(grep '^ID=' /etc/os-release | cut -d= -f2 |

sed -e 's/"//g'))" /etc/motd

Remediation:

Edit the /etc/motd file with the appropriate contents according to your site policy, remove
any instances of \m , \r , \s , \v or references to the OS platform
/etc is stateless on Container-Optimized OS. Therefore, the steps mentioned above needs
to be performed after every boot.

48 | P a g e
CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

5.1 Establish Secure Configurations

v7 Maintain documented, standard security configuration standards for all ● ● ●
authorized operating systems and software.

49 | P a g e
1.5.1.2 Ensure local login warning banner is configured properly
(Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 1 - Server

Description:

The contents of the /etc/issue file are displayed to users prior to login for local terminals.

Rationale:

Audit:

Run the following command and verify that the contents match site policy:

# cat /etc/issue

Run the following command and verify no results are returned:

# grep -E -i "(\\v|\\r|\\m|\\s|$(grep '^ID=' /etc/os-release | cut -d= -f2 |

sed -e 's/"//g'))" /etc/issue

Remediation:

Edit the /etc/issue file with the appropriate contents according to your site policy,
remove any instances of \m , \r , \s , \v or references to the OS platform

50 | P a g e
# echo "Authorized uses only. All activity may be monitored and reported." >
/etc/issue

/etc is stateless on Container-Optimized OS. Therefore, the steps mentioned above needs
to be performed after every boot.

CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

5.1 Establish Secure Configurations

v7 Maintain documented, standard security configuration standards for all ● ● ●
authorized operating systems and software.

51 | P a g e
1.5.1.3 Ensure remote login warning banner is configured properly
(Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 1 - Server

Description:

The contents of the /etc/issue.net file are displayed to users prior to login for remote
connections from configured services.

Rationale:

Audit:

Run the following command and verify that the contents match site policy:

# cat /etc/issue.net

Run the following command and verify no results are returned:

# grep -E -i "(\\v|\\r|\\m|\\s|$(grep '^ID=' /etc/os-release | cut -d= -f2 |

sed -e 's/"//g'))" /etc/issue.net

Remediation:

Edit the /etc/issue.net file with the appropriate contents according to your site policy,
remove any instances of \m , \r , \s , \v or references to the OS platform

52 | P a g e
# echo "Authorized uses only. All activity may be monitored and reported." >
/etc/issue.net

/etc is stateless on Container-Optimized OS. Therefore, the steps mentioned above needs
to be performed after every boot.

CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

5.1 Establish Secure Configurations

v7 Maintain documented, standard security configuration standards for all ● ● ●
authorized operating systems and software.

53 | P a g e
1.5.1.4 Ensure permissions on /etc/motd are configured (Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 2 - Server

Description:

The contents of the /etc/motd file are displayed to users after login and function as a
message of the day for authenticated users.

Rationale:

If the /etc/motd file does not have the correct ownership it could be modified by
unauthorized users with incorrect or misleading information.

Audit:

Run the following command and verify Uid and Gid are both 0/root and Access is 644 :

# stat /etc/motd
Access: (0644/-rw-r--r--) Uid: ( 0/ root) Gid: ( 0/ root)

Remediation:

Run the following commands to set permissions on /etc/motd :

# chown root:root /etc/motd

# chmod 644 /etc/motd

/etc is stateless on Container-Optimized OS. Therefore, the steps mentioned above needs
to be performed after every boot.

CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

3.3 Configure Data Access Control Lists

5.1 Establish Secure Configurations

v7 Maintain documented, standard security configuration standards for all ● ● ●
authorized operating systems and software.

54 | P a g e
1.5.1.5 Ensure permissions on /etc/issue are configured (Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 1 - Server

Description:

The contents of the /etc/issue file are displayed to users prior to login for local terminals.

Rationale:

If the /etc/issue file does not have the correct ownership it could be modified by
unauthorized users with incorrect or misleading information.

Audit:

Run the following command and verify Uid and Gid are both 0/root and Access is 644 :

# stat /etc/issue
Access: (0644/-rw-r--r--) Uid: ( 0/ root) Gid: ( 0/ root)

Remediation:

Run the following commands to set permissions on /etc/issue :

# chown root:root /etc/issue

# chmod 644 /etc/issue

/etc is stateless on Container-Optimized OS. Therefore, the steps mentioned above needs
to be performed after every boot.

CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

3.3 Configure Data Access Control Lists

5.1 Establish Secure Configurations

v7 Maintain documented, standard security configuration standards for all ● ● ●
authorized operating systems and software.

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1.5.1.6 Ensure permissions on /etc/issue.net are configured
(Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 2 - Server

Description:

The contents of the /etc/issue.net file are displayed to users prior to login for remote
connections from configured services.

Rationale:

If the /etc/issue.net file does not have the correct ownership it could be modified by
unauthorized users with incorrect or misleading information.

Audit:

Run the following command and verify Uid and Gid are both 0/root and Access is 644 :

# stat /etc/issue.net
Access: (0644/-rw-r--r--) Uid: ( 0/ root) Gid: ( 0/ root)

Remediation:

Run the following commands to set permissions on /etc/issue.net :

# chown root:root /etc/issue.net

# chmod 644 /etc/issue.net

/etc is stateless on Container-Optimized OS. Therefore, the steps mentioned above needs
to be performed after every boot.

CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

3.3 Configure Data Access Control Lists

56 | P a g e
Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

5.1 Establish Secure Configurations

v7 Maintain documented, standard security configuration standards for all ● ● ●
authorized operating systems and software.

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1.6 Ensure AppArmor is installed (Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 1 - Server

Description:

SELinux and AppArmor provide Mandatory Access Controls.

Rationale:

Without a Mandatory Access Control system installed only the default Discretionary Access
Control system will be available.

Audit:

Verify that AppArmor is installed with the following command:

# grep '\"name\": \"apparmor\"' /etc/cos-package-info.json

"name": "apparmor",

Remediation:

Update to an OS image that includes the the apparmor package.

Additional Information:

SELinux and AppArmor both have several package names in use on different distributions.
Research the appropriate packages for your environment.

CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

3.3 Configure Data Access Control Lists

v8 Configure data access control lists based on a user’s need to know. Apply data
access control lists, also known as access permissions, to local and remote file systems,
● ● ●
databases, and applications.

14.6 Protect Information through Access Control Lists

Protect all information stored on systems with file system, network share, claims,
v7 application, or database specific access control lists. These controls will enforce the ● ● ●
principle that only authorized individuals should have access to the information based
on their need to access the information as a part of their responsibilities.

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2 Services
While applying system updates and patches helps correct known vulnerabilities, one of the
best ways to protect the system against as yet unreported vulnerabilities is to disable all
services that are not required for normal system operation. This prevents the exploitation
of vulnerabilities discovered at a later date. If a service is not enabled, it cannot be
exploited. The actions in this section of the document provide guidance on some services
which can be safely disabled and under which circumstances, greatly reducing the number
of possible threats to the resulting system. Additionally some services which should remain
enabled but with secure configuration are covered as well as insecure service clients.

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2.1 Special Purpose Services
This section describes services that are installed on systems that specifically need to run
these services. If any of these services are not required, it is recommended that they be
disabled or deleted from the system to reduce the potential attack surface.

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2.1.1 Time Synchronization
It is recommended that physical systems and virtual guests lacking direct access to the
physical host's clock be configured to synchronize their time using a service such as NTP or
chrony.

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2.1.1.1 Ensure time synchronization is in use (Manual)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 1 - Server

Description:

System time should be synchronized between all systems in an environment. This is

typically done by establishing an authoritative time server or set of servers and having all
systems synchronize their clocks to them.

Rationale:

Time synchronization is important to support time sensitive security mechanisms like

Kerberos and also ensures log files have consistent time records across the enterprise,
which aids in forensic investigations.

Audit:

On physical systems or virtual systems where host based time synchronization is not
available verify that chrony is installed with the following command:

# grep '\"name\": \"chrony\"' /etc/cos-package-info.json

"name": "chrony",

On virtual systems where host based time synchronization is available consult your
virtualization software documentation and verify that host based synchronization is in use.

Remediation:

On physical systems or virtual systems where host based time synchronization is not
available update to an image that comes with chrony package installed.
On virtual systems where host based time synchronization is available consult your
virtualization software documentation and setup host based synchronization.

Additional Information:

systemd-timesyncd is part of systemd. Some versions of systemd have been compiled

without systemd-timesycnd. On these distributions, chrony or NTP should be used instead
of systemd-timesycnd.

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CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

8.4 Standardize Time Synchronization

v8 Standardize time synchronization. Configure at least two synchronized time ● ●
sources across enterprise assets, where supported.

6.1 Utilize Three Synchronized Time Sources

v7 Use at least three synchronized time sources from which all servers and network
devices retrieve time information on a regular basis so that timestamps in logs are
● ●
consistent.

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2.1.1.2 Ensure chrony is configured (Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 2 - Server

Description:

chrony is a daemon which implements the Network Time Protocol (NTP) is designed to
synchronize system clocks across a variety of systems and use a source that is highly
accurate. More information on chrony can be found at http://chrony.tuxfamily.org/. chrony
can be configured to be a client and/or a server.

Rationale:

If chrony is in use on the system proper configuration is vital to ensuring time

synchronization is working properly.

This recommendation only applies if chrony is in use on the system.

Audit:

Run the following command and verify remote server is configured properly:

# grep -E "^(server|pool)" /etc/chrony/chrony.conf

server <remote-server>

Multiple servers may be configured.

Run the following command and verify the first field for the chronyd process is ntp or
chrony:

# ps -ef | grep chronyd

ntp 491 1 0 20:32 ? 00:00:00 /usr/sbin/chronyd

# ps -ef | grep chronyd

chrony 491 1 0 20:32 ? 00:00:00 /usr/sbin/chronyd

Remediation:

Update to an OS image that has the correct chrony configuration.

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CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

8.4 Standardize Time Synchronization

v8 Standardize time synchronization. Configure at least two synchronized time ● ●
sources across enterprise assets, where supported.

6.1 Utilize Three Synchronized Time Sources

v7 Use at least three synchronized time sources from which all servers and network
devices retrieve time information on a regular basis so that timestamps in logs are
● ●
consistent.

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2.1.2 Ensure X Window System is not installed (Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 1 - Server

Description:

The X Window System provides a Graphical User Interface (GUI) where users can have
multiple windows in which to run programs and various add on. The X Windows system is
typically used on workstations where users login, but not on servers where users typically
do not login.

Rationale:

Unless your organization specifically requires graphical login access via X Windows,
remove it to reduce the potential attack surface.

Impact:

Many Linux systems run applications which require a Java runtime. Some Linux Java
packages have a dependency on specific X Windows xorg-x11-fonts. One workaround to
avoid this dependency is to use the "headless" Java packages for your specific Java runtime,
if provided by your distribution.

Audit:

Verify X Windows System is not installed. The following command should return empty
result.

# grep xorg /etc/cos-package-info.json

Remediation:

An OS image update that does not include X Window System is required.

CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

2.3 Address Unauthorized Software

v8 Ensure that unauthorized software is either removed from use on enterprise ● ● ●
assets or receives a documented exception. Review monthly, or more frequently.

66 | P a g e
Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

2.6 Address unapproved software

v7 Ensure that unauthorized software is either removed or the inventory is updated ● ● ●
in a timely manner

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2.1.3 Ensure NFS and RPC are not enabled (Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 1 - Server

Description:

The Network File System (NFS) is one of the first and most widely distributed file systems
in the UNIX environment. It provides the ability for systems to mount file systems of other
servers through the network.

Rationale:

If the system does not export NFS shares or act as an NFS client, it is recommended that
these services be disabled to reduce the remote attack surface.

Audit:

Run the following commands to verify the nfs-server and rpcbind are not enabled:

# systemctl is-enabled nfs-server

disabled

# systemctl is-enabled rpcbind

disabled

Verify result is not "enabled" for both.

Remediation:

Run the following commands to disable the nfs-server and rpcbind:

# systemctl --now disable nfs-server

# systemctl --now disable rpcbind

/etc is stateless on Container-Optimized OS. Therefore, the steps mentioned above needs
to be performed after every boot.

Additional Information:

Additional methods of disabling a service exist. Consult your distribution documentation

for appropriate methods.

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CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

4.4 Implement and Manage a Firewall on Servers

v8 Implement and manage a firewall on servers, where supported. Example
implementations include a virtual firewall, operating system firewall, or a third-party
● ● ●
firewall agent.

4.5 Implement and Manage a Firewall on End-User Devices

v8 Implement and manage a host-based firewall or port-filtering tool on end-user
devices, with a default-deny rule that drops all traffic except those services and ports
● ● ●
that are explicitly allowed.

4.8 Uninstall or Disable Unnecessary Services on Enterprise

v8 Assets and Software ● ●
Uninstall or disable unnecessary services on enterprise assets and software, such
as an unused file sharing service, web application module, or service function.

9.2 Ensure Only Approved Ports, Protocols and Services Are

v7 Running ● ●
Ensure that only network ports, protocols, and services listening on a system with
validated business needs, are running on each system.

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2.1.4 Ensure rsync service is not enabled (Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 1 - Server

Description:

The rsyncd service can be used to synchronize files between systems over network links.

Rationale:

The rsyncd service presents a security risk as it uses unencrypted protocols for
communication.

Audit:

Run the following command to verify rsyncd is not enabled:

# systemctl is-enabled rsyncd

disabled

Verify result is not "enabled".

Remediation:

Run the following command to disable rsyncd :

# systemctl --now disable rsyncd

/etc is stateless on Container-Optimized OS. Therefore, the steps mentioned above needs
to be performed after every boot.

Additional Information:

Additional methods of disabling a service exist. Consult your distribution documentation

for appropriate methods.

On some distributions the rsync service is known as rsync, not rsyncd.

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CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

4.4 Implement and Manage a Firewall on Servers

v8 Implement and manage a firewall on servers, where supported. Example
implementations include a virtual firewall, operating system firewall, or a third-party
● ● ●
firewall agent.

4.5 Implement and Manage a Firewall on End-User Devices

4.8 Uninstall or Disable Unnecessary Services on Enterprise

v8 Assets and Software ● ●
Uninstall or disable unnecessary services on enterprise assets and software, such
as an unused file sharing service, web application module, or service function.

9.2 Ensure Only Approved Ports, Protocols and Services Are

v7 Running ● ●
Ensure that only network ports, protocols, and services listening on a system with
validated business needs, are running on each system.

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3 Network Configuration
This section provides guidance on for securing the network configuration of the system
through kernel parameters, access list control, and firewall settings.

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3.1 Network Parameters (Host Only)
The following network parameters are intended for use if the system is to act as a host
only. A system is considered host only if the system has a single interface, or has multiple
interfaces but will not be configured as a router.

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3.1.1 Ensure packet redirect sending is disabled (Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 1 - Server

Description:

ICMP Redirects are used to send routing information to other hosts. As a host itself does
not act as a router (in a host only configuration), there is no need to send redirects.

Rationale:

An attacker could use a compromised host to send invalid ICMP redirects to other router
devices in an attempt to corrupt routing and have users access a system set up by the
attacker as opposed to a valid system.

Audit:

Run the following commands and verify output matches:

# sysctl net.ipv4.conf.all.send_redirects
net.ipv4.conf.all.send_redirects = 0

# sysctl net.ipv4.conf.default.send_redirects
net.ipv4.conf.default.send_redirects = 0

# grep "net\.ipv4\.conf\.all\.send_redirects" /etc/sysctl.conf

/etc/sysctl.d/*
net.ipv4.conf.all.send_redirects = 0

# grep "net\.ipv4\.conf\.default\.send_redirects" /etc/sysctl.conf

/etc/sysctl.d/*
net.ipv4.conf.default.send_redirects= 0

Remediation:

Set the following parameters in /etc/sysctl.conf or a /etc/sysctl.d/* file:

net.ipv4.conf.all.send_redirects = 0
net.ipv4.conf.default.send_redirects = 0

Run the following commands to set the active kernel parameters:

# sysctl -w net.ipv4.conf.all.send_redirects=0
# sysctl -w net.ipv4.conf.default.send_redirects=0
# sysctl -w net.ipv4.route.flush=1

74 | P a g e
/etc is stateless on Container-Optimized OS. Therefore, /etc cannot be used to make these
changes persistent across reboots. The steps mentioned above needs to be performed after
every boot.

CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

12.3 Securely Manage Network Infrastructure

v8 Securely manage network infrastructure. Example implementations include
version-controlled-infrastructure-as-code, and the use of secure network protocols,
● ●
such as SSH and HTTPS.

5.1 Establish Secure Configurations

v7 Maintain documented, standard security configuration standards for all ● ● ●
authorized operating systems and software.

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3.2 Network Parameters (Host and Router)
The following network parameters are intended for use on both host only and router
systems. A system acts as a router if it has at least two interfaces and is configured to
perform routing functions.

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3.2.1 Ensure source routed packets are not accepted (Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 2 - Server

Description:

In networking, source routing allows a sender to partially or fully specify the route packets
take through a network. In contrast, non-source routed packets travel a path determined
by routers in the network. In some cases, systems may not be routable or reachable from
some locations (e.g. private addresses vs. Internet routable), and so source routed packets
would need to be used.

Rationale:

Setting net.ipv4.conf.all.accept_source_route,
net.ipv4.conf.default.accept_source_route,
net.ipv6.conf.all.accept_source_route and
net.ipv6.conf.default.accept_source_route to 0 disables the system from accepting
source routed packets. Assume this system was capable of routing packets to Internet
routable addresses on one interface and private addresses on another interface. Assume
that the private addresses were not routable to the Internet routable addresses and vice
versa. Under normal routing circumstances, an attacker from the Internet routable
addresses could not use the system as a way to reach the private address systems. If,
however, source routed packets were allowed, they could be used to gain access to the
private address systems as the route could be specified, rather than rely on routing
protocols that did not allow this routing.

Audit:

Run the following commands and verify output matches:

# sysctl net.ipv4.conf.all.accept_source_route

net.ipv4.conf.all.accept_source_route = 0

# sysctl net.ipv4.conf.default.accept_source_route

net.ipv4.conf.default.accept_source_route = 0

# sysctl net.ipv6.conf.all.accept_source_route

net.ipv6.conf.all.accept_source_route = 0

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# sysctl net.ipv6.conf.default.accept_source_route

net.ipv6.conf.default.accept_source_route = 0

Remediation:

Run the following commands to set the active kernel parameters:

# sysctl -w net.ipv4.conf.all.accept_source_route=0
# sysctl -w net.ipv4.conf.default.accept_source_route=0
# sysctl -w net.ipv6.conf.all.accept_source_route=0
# sysctl -w net.ipv6.conf.default.accept_source_route=0
# sysctl -w net.ipv4.route.flush=1
# sysctl -w net.ipv6.route.flush=1

/etc is stateless on Container-Optimized OS. Therefore, /etc cannot be used to make these
changes persistent across reboots. The steps mentioned above needs to be performed after
every boot.

CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

12.2 Establish and Maintain a Secure Network Architecture

v8 Establish and maintain a secure network architecture. A secure network
architecture must address segmentation, least privilege, and availability, at a
● ●
minimum.

5.1 Establish Secure Configurations

v7 Maintain documented, standard security configuration standards for all ● ● ●
authorized operating systems and software.

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3.2.2 Ensure ICMP redirects are not accepted (Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 2 - Server

Description:

ICMP redirect messages are packets that convey routing information and tell your host
(acting as a router) to send packets via an alternate path. It is a way of allowing an outside
routing device to update your system routing tables. By setting
net.ipv4.conf.all.accept_redirects and net.ipv6.conf.all.accept_redirects to 0,
the system will not accept any ICMP redirect messages, and therefore, won't allow
outsiders to update the system's routing tables.

Rationale:

Attackers could use bogus ICMP redirect messages to maliciously alter the system routing
tables and get them to send packets to incorrect networks and allow your system packets
to be captured.

Audit:

Run the following commands and verify output matches:

# sysctl net.ipv4.conf.all.accept_redirects
net.ipv4.conf.all.accept_redirects = 0

# sysctl net.ipv4.conf.default.accept_redirects
net.ipv4.conf.default.accept_redirects = 0

# sysctl net.ipv6.conf.all.accept_redirects
net.ipv6.conf.all.accept_redirects = 0

# sysctl net.ipv6.conf.default.accept_redirects
net.ipv6.conf.default.accept_redirects = 0

Remediation:

Run the following commands to set the active kernel parameters:

# sysctl -w net.ipv4.conf.all.accept_redirects=0
# sysctl -w net.ipv4.conf.default.accept_redirects=0
# sysctl -w net.ipv6.conf.all.accept_redirects=0
# sysctl -w net.ipv6.conf.default.accept_redirects=0
# sysctl -w net.ipv4.route.flush=1
# sysctl -w net.ipv6.route.flush=1

79 | P a g e
/etc is stateless on Container-Optimized OS. Therefore, /etc cannot be used to make these
changes persistent across reboots. The steps mentioned above needs to be performed after
every boot.

CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

12.2 Establish and Maintain a Secure Network Architecture

v8 Establish and maintain a secure network architecture. A secure network
architecture must address segmentation, least privilege, and availability, at a
● ●
minimum.

5.1 Establish Secure Configurations

v7 Maintain documented, standard security configuration standards for all ● ● ●
authorized operating systems and software.

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3.2.3 Ensure secure ICMP redirects are not accepted (Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 2 - Server

Description:

Secure ICMP redirects are the same as ICMP redirects, except they come from gateways
listed on the default gateway list. It is assumed that these gateways are known to your
system, and that they are likely to be secure.

Rationale:

It is still possible for even known gateways to be compromised. Setting

net.ipv4.conf.all.secure_redirects to 0 protects the system from routing table
updates by possibly compromised known gateways.

Audit:

Run the following commands and verify output matches:

# sysctl net.ipv4.conf.all.secure_redirects
net.ipv4.conf.all.secure_redirects = 0

# sysctl net.ipv4.conf.default.secure_redirects
net.ipv4.conf.default.secure_redirects = 0

Remediation:

Run the following commands to set the active kernel parameters:

# sysctl -w net.ipv4.conf.all.secure_redirects=0
# sysctl -w net.ipv4.conf.default.secure_redirects=0
# sysctl -w net.ipv4.route.flush=1

/etc is stateless on Container-Optimized OS. Therefore, /etc cannot be used to make these
changes persistent across reboots. The steps mentioned above needs to be performed after
every boot.

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CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

12.2 Establish and Maintain a Secure Network Architecture

v8 Establish and maintain a secure network architecture. A secure network
architecture must address segmentation, least privilege, and availability, at a
● ●
minimum.

5.1 Establish Secure Configurations

v7 Maintain documented, standard security configuration standards for all ● ● ●
authorized operating systems and software.

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3.2.4 Ensure suspicious packets are logged (Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 2 - Server

Description:

When enabled, this feature logs packets with un-routable source addresses to the kernel
log.

Rationale:

Enabling this feature and logging these packets allows an administrator to investigate the
possibility that an attacker is sending spoofed packets to their system.

Audit:

Run the following commands and verify output matches:

# sysctl net.ipv4.conf.all.log_martians
net.ipv4.conf.all.log_martians = 1

# sysctl net.ipv4.conf.default.log_martians
net.ipv4.conf.default.log_martians = 1

Remediation:

Run the following commands to set the active kernel parameters:

# sysctl -w net.ipv4.conf.all.log_martians=1
# sysctl -w net.ipv4.conf.default.log_martians=1
# sysctl -w net.ipv4.route.flush=1

/etc is stateless on Container-Optimized OS. Therefore, /etc cannot be used to make these
changes persistent across reboots. The steps mentioned above needs to be performed after
every boot.

CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

8.2 Collect Audit Logs

v8 Collect audit logs. Ensure that logging, per the enterprise’s audit log management ● ● ●
process, has been enabled across enterprise assets.

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Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

8.5 Collect Detailed Audit Logs

6.2 Activate audit logging

v7
Ensure that local logging has been enabled on all systems and networking devices.
● ● ●

6.3 Enable Detailed Logging

v7 Enable system logging to include detailed information such as an event source,
date, user, timestamp, source addresses, destination addresses, and other useful
● ●
elements.

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3.2.5 Ensure broadcast ICMP requests are ignored (Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 1 - Server

Description:

Setting net.ipv4.icmp_echo_ignore_broadcasts to 1 will cause the system to ignore all

ICMP echo and timestamp requests to broadcast and multicast addresses.

Rationale:

Accepting ICMP echo and timestamp requests with broadcast or multicast destinations for
your network could be used to trick your host into starting (or participating) in a Smurf
attack. A Smurf attack relies on an attacker sending large amounts of ICMP broadcast
messages with a spoofed source address. All hosts receiving this message and responding
would send echo-reply messages back to the spoofed address, which is probably not
routable. If many hosts respond to the packets, the amount of traffic on the network could
be significantly multiplied.

Audit:

Run the following commands and verify output matches:

# sysctl net.ipv4.icmp_echo_ignore_broadcasts
net.ipv4.icmp_echo_ignore_broadcasts = 1

# grep "net\.ipv4\.icmp_echo_ignore_broadcasts" /etc/sysctl.conf

/etc/sysctl.d/*
net.ipv4.icmp_echo_ignore_broadcasts = 1

Remediation:

Set the following parameters in /etc/sysctl.conf or a /etc/sysctl.d/* file:

net.ipv4.icmp_echo_ignore_broadcasts = 1

Run the following commands to set the active kernel parameters:

# sysctl -w net.ipv4.icmp_echo_ignore_broadcasts=1
# sysctl -w net.ipv4.route.flush=1

/etc is stateless on Container-Optimized OS. Therefore, /etc cannot be used to make these
changes persistent across reboots. The steps mentioned above needs to be performed after
every boot.

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CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

12.2 Establish and Maintain a Secure Network Architecture

v8 Establish and maintain a secure network architecture. A secure network
architecture must address segmentation, least privilege, and availability, at a
● ●
minimum.

5.1 Establish Secure Configurations

v7 Maintain documented, standard security configuration standards for all ● ● ●
authorized operating systems and software.

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3.2.6 Ensure bogus ICMP responses are ignored (Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 1 - Server

Description:

Setting icmp_ignore_bogus_error_responses to 1 prevents the kernel from logging bogus

responses (RFC-1122 non-compliant) from broadcast reframes, keeping file systems from
filling up with useless log messages.

Rationale:

Some routers (and some attackers) will send responses that violate RFC-1122 and attempt
to fill up a log file system with many useless error messages.

Audit:

Run the following commands and verify output matches:

# sysctl net.ipv4.icmp_ignore_bogus_error_responses

net.ipv4.icmp_ignore_bogus_error_responses = 1

# grep "net.ipv4.icmp_ignore_bogus_error_responses" /etc/sysctl.conf

/etc/sysctl.d/*

net.ipv4.icmp_ignore_bogus_error_responses = 1

Remediation:

Set the following parameter in /etc/sysctl.conf or a /etc/sysctl.d/* file:

net.ipv4.icmp_ignore_bogus_error_responses = 1

Run the following commands to set the active kernel parameters:

# sysctl -w net.ipv4.icmp_ignore_bogus_error_responses=1
# sysctl -w net.ipv4.route.flush=1

/etc is stateless on Container-Optimized OS. Therefore, /etc cannot be used to make these
changes persistent across reboots. The steps mentioned above needs to be performed after
every boot.

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CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

12.2 Establish and Maintain a Secure Network Architecture

v8 Establish and maintain a secure network architecture. A secure network
architecture must address segmentation, least privilege, and availability, at a
● ●
minimum.

5.1 Establish Secure Configurations

v7 Maintain documented, standard security configuration standards for all ● ● ●
authorized operating systems and software.

88 | P a g e
3.2.7 Ensure Reverse Path Filtering is enabled (Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 1 - Server

Description:

Setting net.ipv4.conf.all.rp_filter and net.ipv4.conf.default.rp_filter to 1 forces

the Linux kernel to utilize reverse path filtering on a received packet to determine if the
packet was valid. Essentially, with reverse path filtering, if the return packet does not go
out the same interface that the corresponding source packet came from, the packet is
dropped (and logged if log_martians is set).

Rationale:

Setting these flags is a good way to deter attackers from sending your system bogus
packets that cannot be responded to. One instance where this feature breaks down is if
asymmetrical routing is employed. This would occur when using dynamic routing protocols
(bgp, ospf, etc) on your system. If you are using asymmetrical routing on your system, you
will not be able to enable this feature without breaking the routing.

Audit:

Run the following commands and verify output matches:

# sysctl net.ipv4.conf.all.rp_filter
net.ipv4.conf.all.rp_filter = 1

# sysctl net.ipv4.conf.default.rp_filter
net.ipv4.conf.default.rp_filter = 1

# grep "net\.ipv4\.conf\.all\.rp_filter" /etc/sysctl.conf /etc/sysctl.d/*

net.ipv4.conf.all.rp_filter = 1

# grep "net\.ipv4\.conf\.default\.rp_filter" /etc/sysctl.conf /etc/sysctl.d/*

net.ipv4.conf.default.rp_filter = 1

Remediation:

Set the following parameters in /etc/sysctl.conf or a /etc/sysctl.d/* file:

net.ipv4.conf.all.rp_filter = 1
net.ipv4.conf.default.rp_filter = 1

Run the following commands to set the active kernel parameters:

89 | P a g e
# sysctl -w net.ipv4.conf.all.rp_filter=1
# sysctl -w net.ipv4.conf.default.rp_filter=1
# sysctl -w net.ipv4.route.flush=1

/etc is stateless on Container-Optimized OS. Therefore, /etc cannot be used to make these
changes persistent across reboots. The steps mentioned above needs to be performed after
every boot.

CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

12.2 Establish and Maintain a Secure Network Architecture

v8 Establish and maintain a secure network architecture. A secure network
architecture must address segmentation, least privilege, and availability, at a
● ●
minimum.

5.1 Establish Secure Configurations

v7 Maintain documented, standard security configuration standards for all ● ● ●
authorized operating systems and software.

90 | P a g e
3.2.8 Ensure TCP SYN Cookies is enabled (Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 1 - Server

Description:

When tcp_syncookies is set, the kernel will handle TCP SYN packets normally until the
half-open connection queue is full, at which time, the SYN cookie functionality kicks in. SYN
cookies work by not using the SYN queue at all. Instead, the kernel simply replies to the
SYN with a SYN|ACK, but will include a specially crafted TCP sequence number that
encodes the source and destination IP address and port number and the time the packet
was sent. A legitimate connection would send the ACK packet of the three way handshake
with the specially crafted sequence number. This allows the system to verify that it has
received a valid response to a SYN cookie and allow the connection, even though there is no
corresponding SYN in the queue.

Rationale:

Attackers use SYN flood attacks to perform a denial of service attacked on a system by
sending many SYN packets without completing the three way handshake. This will quickly
use up slots in the kernel's half-open connection queue and prevent legitimate connections
from succeeding. SYN cookies allow the system to keep accepting valid connections, even if
under a denial of service attack.

Audit:

Run the following commands and verify output matches:

# sysctl net.ipv4.tcp_syncookies
net.ipv4.tcp_syncookies = 1

# grep "net\.ipv4\.tcp_syncookies" /etc/sysctl.conf /etc/sysctl.d/*

net.ipv4.tcp_syncookies = 1

Remediation:

Set the following parameters in /etc/sysctl.conf or a /etc/sysctl.d/* file:

net.ipv4.tcp_syncookies = 1

Run the following commands to set the active kernel parameters:

91 | P a g e
# sysctl -w net.ipv4.tcp_syncookies=1
# sysctl -w net.ipv4.route.flush=1

/etc is stateless on Container-Optimized OS. Therefore, /etc cannot be used to make these
changes persistent across reboots. The steps mentioned above needs to be performed after
every boot.

CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

12.2 Establish and Maintain a Secure Network Architecture

v8 Establish and maintain a secure network architecture. A secure network
architecture must address segmentation, least privilege, and availability, at a
● ●
minimum.

5.1 Establish Secure Configurations

v7 Maintain documented, standard security configuration standards for all ● ● ●
authorized operating systems and software.

92 | P a g e
3.2.9 Ensure IPv6 router advertisements are not accepted (Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 2 - Server

Description:

This setting disables the system's ability to accept IPv6 router advertisements.

Rationale:

It is recommended that systems do not accept router advertisements as they could be

tricked into routing traffic to compromised machines. Setting hard routes within the
system (usually a single default route to a trusted router) protects the system from bad
routes.

Audit:

Run the following commands and verify output matches:

# sysctl net.ipv6.conf.all.accept_ra
net.ipv6.conf.all.accept_ra = 0

# sysctl net.ipv6.conf.default.accept_ra
net.ipv6.conf.default.accept_ra = 0

Remediation:

Run the following commands to set the active kernel parameters:

# sysctl -w net.ipv6.conf.all.accept_ra=0
# sysctl -w net.ipv6.conf.default.accept_ra=0
# sysctl -w net.ipv6.route.flush=1

/etc is stateless on Container-Optimized OS. Therefore, /etc cannot be used to make these
changes persistent across reboots. The steps mentioned above needs to be performed after
every boot.

CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

v8 12.2 Establish and Maintain a Secure Network Architecture ● ●

Establish and maintain a secure network architecture. A secure network

93 | P a g e
Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

architecture must address segmentation, least privilege, and availability, at a

minimum.

5.1 Establish Secure Configurations

v7 Maintain documented, standard security configuration standards for all ● ● ●
authorized operating systems and software.

94 | P a g e
3.3 Firewall Configuration
IPtables is an application that allows a system administrator to configure the IPv4 tables,
IPv6 tables, chains and rules provided by the Linux kernel firewall. While several methods
of configuration exist this section is intended only to ensure the resulting IPtables and rules
are in place, not how they are configured. If IPv6 is in use in your environment, similar
settings should be applied to the IP6tables as well.

95 | P a g e
3.3.1 Configure IPv6 ip6tables
Ip6tables is used to set up, maintain, and inspect the tables of IPv6 packet filter rules in the
Linux kernel. Several different tables may be defined. Each table contains a number of
built-in chains and may also contain user-defined chains. Each chain is a list of rules which
can match a set of packets. Each rule specifies what to do with a packet that matches. This
is called a `target', which may be a jump to a user-defined chain in the same table.

If IPv6 in enabled on the system, the ip6tables should be configured.

Note: This section broadly assumes starting with an empty ip6tables firewall ruleset
(established by flushing the rules with ip6tables -F). Remediation steps included only affect
the live system, you will also need to configure your default firewall configuration to apply
on boot. Configuration of a live systems firewall directly over a remote connection will
often result in being locked out. It is advised to have a known good firewall configuration
set to run on boot and to configure an entire firewall structure in a script that is then run
and tested before saving to boot. The following script will implement the firewall rules of
this section and open port 22(ssh) from anywhere:

#!/bin/bash

# Flush ip6tables rules

ip6tables -F

# Ensure default deny firewall policy

ip6tables -P INPUT DROP

ip6tables -P OUTPUT DROP

ip6tables -P FORWARD DROP

# Ensure loopback traffic is configured

ip6tables -A INPUT -i lo -j ACCEPT

ip6tables -A OUTPUT -o lo -j ACCEPT

ip6tables -A INPUT -s ::1 -j DROP

96 | P a g e
# Ensure outbound and established connections are configured

ip6tables -A OUTPUT -p tcp -m state --state NEW,ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT

ip6tables -A OUTPUT -p udp -m state --state NEW,ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT

ip6tables -A OUTPUT -p icmp -m state --state NEW,ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT

ip6tables -A INPUT -p tcp -m state --state ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT

ip6tables -A INPUT -p udp -m state --state ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT

ip6tables -A INPUT -p icmp -m state --state ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT

# Open inbound ssh(tcp port 22) connections

ip6tables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 22 -m state --state NEW -j ACCEPT

97 | P a g e
3.3.1.1 Ensure IPv6 default deny firewall policy (Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 2 - Server

Description:

A default deny all policy on connections ensures that any unconfigured network usage will
be rejected.

Rationale:

With a default accept policy the firewall will accept any packet that is not configured to be
denied. It is easier to white list acceptable usage than to black list unacceptable usage.

Audit:

Run the following command and verify that the policy for the INPUT, OUTPUT, and
FORWARD chains is DROP or REJECT:

# ip6tables -L
Chain INPUT (policy DROP)
Chain FORWARD (policy DROP)
Chain OUTPUT (policy DROP)

Remediation:

Run the following commands to implement a default DROP policy:

# ip6tables -P INPUT DROP

# ip6tables -P OUTPUT DROP
# ip6tables -P FORWARD DROP

Additional Information:

Changing firewall settings while connected over network can result in being locked out of
the system.

Remediation will only affect the active system firewall, be sure to configure the default
policy in your firewall management to apply on boot as well.

98 | P a g e
CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

4.4 Implement and Manage a Firewall on Servers

v8 Implement and manage a firewall on servers, where supported. Example
implementations include a virtual firewall, operating system firewall, or a third-
● ● ●
party firewall agent.

9.4 Apply Host-based Firewalls or Port Filtering

v7 Apply host-based firewalls or port filtering tools on end systems, with a default-
deny rule that drops all traffic except those services and ports that are explicitly
● ● ●
allowed.

99 | P a g e
3.3.1.2 Ensure IPv6 loopback traffic is configured (Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 2 - Server

Description:

Configure the loopback interface to accept traffic. Configure all other interfaces to deny
traffic to the loopback network (::1).

Rationale:

Loopback traffic is generated between processes on machine and is typically critical to

operation of the system. The loopback interface is the only place that loopback network
(::1) traffic should be seen, all other interfaces should ignore traffic on this network as an
anti-spoofing measure.

Audit:

Run the following commands and verify output includes the listed rules in order (packet
and byte counts may differ):

# ip6tables -L INPUT -v -n
Chain INPUT (policy DROP 0 packets, 0 bytes)
pkts bytes target prot opt in out source
destination
0 0 ACCEPT all lo * ::/0 ::/0
0 0 DROP all * * ::1 ::/0

# ip6tables -L OUTPUT -v -n
Chain OUTPUT (policy DROP 0 packets, 0 bytes)
pkts bytes target prot opt in out source
destination
0 0 ACCEPT all * lo ::/0 ::/0

Remediation:

Run the following commands to implement the loopback rules:

# ip6tables -A INPUT -i lo -j ACCEPT

# ip6tables -A OUTPUT -o lo -j ACCEPT
# ip6tables -A INPUT -s ::1 -j DROP

100 | P a g e
Additional Information:

Changing firewall settings while connected over network can result in being locked out of
the system.

Remediation will only affect the active system firewall, be sure to configure the default
policy in your firewall management to apply on boot as well.

CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

4.4 Implement and Manage a Firewall on Servers

v8 Implement and manage a firewall on servers, where supported. Example
implementations include a virtual firewall, operating system firewall, or a third-
● ● ●
party firewall agent.

9.4 Apply Host-based Firewalls or Port Filtering

v7 Apply host-based firewalls or port filtering tools on end systems, with a default-
deny rule that drops all traffic except those services and ports that are explicitly
● ● ●
allowed.

101 | P a g e
3.3.1.3 Ensure IPv6 outbound and established connections are
configured (Manual)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 2 - Server

Description:

Configure the firewall rules for new outbound, and established IPv6 connections.

Rationale:

If rules are not in place for new outbound, and established connections all packets will be
dropped by the default policy preventing network usage.

Audit:

Run the following command and verify all rules for new outbound, and established
connections match site policy:

# ip6tables -L -v -n

Remediation:

Configure iptables in accordance with site policy. The following commands will implement
a policy to allow all outbound connections and all established connections:

# ip6tables -A OUTPUT -p tcp -m state --state NEW,ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT

# ip6tables -A OUTPUT -p udp -m state --state NEW,ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT
# ip6tables -A OUTPUT -p icmp -m state --state NEW,ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT
# ip6tables -A INPUT -p tcp -m state --state ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT
# ip6tables -A INPUT -p udp -m state --state ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT
# ip6tables -A INPUT -p icmp -m state --state ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT

Additional Information:

Changing firewall settings while connected over network can result in being locked out of
the system.

Remediation will only affect the active system firewall, be sure to configure the default
policy in your firewall management to apply on boot as well.

102 | P a g e
CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

4.4 Implement and Manage a Firewall on Servers

v8 Implement and manage a firewall on servers, where supported. Example
implementations include a virtual firewall, operating system firewall, or a third-
● ● ●
party firewall agent.

9.4 Apply Host-based Firewalls or Port Filtering

v7 Apply host-based firewalls or port filtering tools on end systems, with a default-
deny rule that drops all traffic except those services and ports that are explicitly
● ● ●
allowed.

103 | P a g e
3.3.1.4 Ensure IPv6 firewall rules exist for all open ports (Manual)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 2 - Server

Description:

Any ports that have been opened on non-loopback addresses need firewall rules to govern
traffic.

Rationale:

Without a firewall rule configured for open ports default firewall policy will drop all
packets to these ports.

Audit:

Run the following command to determine open ports:

# ss -6tuln

Netid State Recv-Q Send-Q Local Address:Port Peer

Address:Port
udp UNCONN 0 0 ::1:123
:::*
udp UNCONN 0 0 :::123
:::*
tcp LISTEN 0 128 :::22
:::*
tcp LISTEN 0 20 ::1:25
:::*

Run the following command to determine firewall rules:

# ip6tables -L INPUT -v -n

Chain INPUT (policy DROP 0 packets, 0 bytes)

pkts bytes target prot opt in out source
destination
0 0 ACCEPT all lo * ::/0 ::/0
0 0 DROP all * * ::1 ::/0
0 0 ACCEPT tcp * * ::/0 ::/0
tcp dpt:22 state NEW

Verify all open ports listening on non-localhost addresses have at least one firewall rule.
The last line identified by the "tcp dpt:22 state NEW" identifies it as a firewall rule for new
connections on tcp port 22.

104 | P a g e
Remediation:

For each port identified in the audit which does not have a firewall rule establish a proper
rule for accepting inbound connections:

# ip6tables -A INPUT -p <protocol> --dport <port> -m state --state NEW -j

Additional Information:

Changing firewall settings while connected over network can result in being locked out of
the system.

Remediation will only affect the active system firewall, be sure to configure the default
policy in your firewall management to apply on boot as well.

The remediation command opens up the port to traffic from all sources. Consult iptables
documentation and set any restrictions in compliance with site policy.

CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

4.4 Implement and Manage a Firewall on Servers

v8 Implement and manage a firewall on servers, where supported. Example
implementations include a virtual firewall, operating system firewall, or a third-
● ● ●
party firewall agent.

12.2 Establish and Maintain a Secure Network Architecture

v8 Establish and maintain a secure network architecture. A secure network
architecture must address segmentation, least privilege, and availability, at a
● ●
minimum.

9.4 Apply Host-based Firewalls or Port Filtering

v7 Apply host-based firewalls or port filtering tools on end systems, with a default-
deny rule that drops all traffic except those services and ports that are explicitly
● ● ●
allowed.

105 | P a g e
3.3.2 Configure IPv4 iptables
Iptables is used to set up, maintain, and inspect the tables of IP packet filter rules in the
Linux kernel. Several different tables may be defined. Each table contains a number of
built-in chains and may also contain user-defined chains.

Each chain is a list of rules which can match a set of packets. Each rule specifies what to do
with a packet that matches. This is called a 'target', which may be a jump to a user-defined
chain in the same table.

Note: This section broadly assumes starting with an empty IPtables firewall ruleset
(established by flushing the rules with iptables -F). Remediation steps included only affect
the live system, you will also need to configure your default firewall configuration to apply
on boot. Configuration of a live systems firewall directly over a remote connection will
often result in being locked out. It is advised to have a known good firewall configuration
set to run on boot and to configure an entire firewall structure in a script that is then run
and tested before saving to boot. The following script will implement the firewall rules of
this section and open port 22(ssh) from anywhere:

#!/bin/bash

# Flush IPtables rules

iptables -F

# Ensure default deny firewall policy

iptables -P INPUT DROP

iptables -P OUTPUT DROP

iptables -P FORWARD DROP

# Ensure loopback traffic is configured

iptables -A INPUT -i lo -j ACCEPT

iptables -A OUTPUT -o lo -j ACCEPT

iptables -A INPUT -s 127.0.0.0/8 -j DROP

106 | P a g e
# Ensure outbound and established connections are configured

iptables -A OUTPUT -p tcp -m state --state NEW,ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT

iptables -A OUTPUT -p udp -m state --state NEW,ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT

iptables -A OUTPUT -p icmp -m state --state NEW,ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT

iptables -A INPUT -p tcp -m state --state ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT

iptables -A INPUT -p udp -m state --state ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT

iptables -A INPUT -p icmp -m state --state ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT

# Open inbound ssh(tcp port 22) connections

iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 22 -m state --state NEW -j ACCEPT

107 | P a g e
3.3.2.1 Ensure default deny firewall policy (Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 2 - Server

Description:

A default deny all policy on connections ensures that any unconfigured network usage will
be rejected.

Rationale:

With a default accept policy the firewall will accept any packet that is not configured to be
denied. It is easier to white list acceptable usage than to black list unacceptable usage.

Audit:

Run the following command and verify that the policy for the INPUT , OUTPUT , and FORWARD
chains is DROP or REJECT :

# iptables -L
Chain INPUT (policy DROP)
Chain FORWARD (policy DROP)
Chain OUTPUT (policy DROP)

Remediation:

Run the following commands to implement a default DROP policy:

# iptables -P INPUT DROP

# iptables -P OUTPUT DROP
# iptables -P FORWARD DROP

Additional Information:

Changing firewall settings while connected over network can result in being locked out of
the system.

Remediation will only affect the active system firewall, be sure to configure the default
policy in your firewall management to apply on boot as well.

108 | P a g e
CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

4.4 Implement and Manage a Firewall on Servers

v8 Implement and manage a firewall on servers, where supported. Example
implementations include a virtual firewall, operating system firewall, or a third-
● ● ●
party firewall agent.

9.4 Apply Host-based Firewalls or Port Filtering

v7 Apply host-based firewalls or port filtering tools on end systems, with a default-
deny rule that drops all traffic except those services and ports that are explicitly
● ● ●
allowed.

109 | P a g e
3.3.2.2 Ensure loopback traffic is configured (Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 2 - Server

Description:

Configure the loopback interface to accept traffic. Configure all other interfaces to deny
traffic to the loopback network (127.0.0.0/8).

Rationale:

Loopback traffic is generated between processes on machine and is typically critical to

operation of the system. The loopback interface is the only place that loopback network
(127.0.0.0/8) traffic should be seen, all other interfaces should ignore traffic on this
network as an anti-spoofing measure.

Audit:

Run the following commands and verify output includes the listed rules in order (packet
and byte counts may differ):

# iptables -L INPUT -v -n
Chain INPUT (policy DROP 0 packets, 0 bytes)
pkts bytes target prot opt in out source
destination
0 0 ACCEPT all -- lo * 0.0.0.0/0 0.0.0.0/0
0 0 DROP all -- * * 127.0.0.0/8 0.0.0.0/0

# iptables -L OUTPUT -v -n
Chain OUTPUT (policy DROP 0 packets, 0 bytes)
pkts bytes target prot opt in out source
destination
0 0 ACCEPT all -- * lo 0.0.0.0/0 0.0.0.0/0

Remediation:

Run the following commands to implement the loopback rules:

# iptables -A INPUT -i lo -j ACCEPT

# iptables -A OUTPUT -o lo -j ACCEPT
# iptables -A INPUT -s 127.0.0.0/8 -j DROP

Additional Information:

Changing firewall settings while connected over network can result in being locked out of
the system.

110 | P a g e
Remediation will only affect the active system firewall, be sure to configure the default
policy in your firewall management to apply on boot as well.

CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

4.4 Implement and Manage a Firewall on Servers

v8 Implement and manage a firewall on servers, where supported. Example
implementations include a virtual firewall, operating system firewall, or a third-
● ● ●
party firewall agent.

9.4 Apply Host-based Firewalls or Port Filtering

v7 Apply host-based firewalls or port filtering tools on end systems, with a default-
deny rule that drops all traffic except those services and ports that are explicitly
● ● ●
allowed.

111 | P a g e
3.3.2.3 Ensure outbound and established connections are configured
(Manual)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 2 - Server

Description:

Configure the firewall rules for new outbound, and established connections.

Rationale:

If rules are not in place for new outbound, and established connections all packets will be
dropped by the default policy preventing network usage.

Audit:

Run the following command and verify all rules for new outbound, and established
connections match site policy:

# iptables -L -v -n

Remediation:

Configure iptables in accordance with site policy. The following commands will implement
a policy to allow all outbound connections and all established connections:

# iptables -A OUTPUT -p tcp -m state --state NEW,ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT

# iptables -A OUTPUT -p udp -m state --state NEW,ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT
# iptables -A OUTPUT -p icmp -m state --state NEW,ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT
# iptables -A INPUT -p tcp -m state --state ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT
# iptables -A INPUT -p udp -m state --state ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT
# iptables -A INPUT -p icmp -m state --state ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT

Additional Information:

Changing firewall settings while connected over network can result in being locked out of
the system.

Remediation will only affect the active system firewall, be sure to configure the default
policy in your firewall management to apply on boot as well.

112 | P a g e
CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

4.4 Implement and Manage a Firewall on Servers

v8 Implement and manage a firewall on servers, where supported. Example
implementations include a virtual firewall, operating system firewall, or a third-
● ● ●
party firewall agent.

9.4 Apply Host-based Firewalls or Port Filtering

v7 Apply host-based firewalls or port filtering tools on end systems, with a default-
deny rule that drops all traffic except those services and ports that are explicitly
● ● ●
allowed.

113 | P a g e
3.3.3 Ensure iptables is installed (Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 1 - Server

Description:

iptables allows configuration of the IPv4 and IPv6 tables in the linux kernel and the rules
stored within them. Most firewall configuration utilities operate as a front end to iptables.

Rationale:

iptables is required for firewall management and configuration.

Audit:

Run the following command and verify iptables is installed:

grep '\"name\": \"iptables\"' /etc/cos-package-info.json

"name": "iptables"

Remediation:

Update to an OS image that includes the iptables package.

CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

4.4 Implement and Manage a Firewall on Servers

v8 Implement and manage a firewall on servers, where supported. Example
implementations include a virtual firewall, operating system firewall, or a third-
● ● ●
party firewall agent.

9.4 Apply Host-based Firewalls or Port Filtering

v7 Apply host-based firewalls or port filtering tools on end systems, with a default-
deny rule that drops all traffic except those services and ports that are explicitly
● ● ●
allowed.

114 | P a g e
4 Logging and Auditing
The items in this section describe how to configure logging, log monitoring, and auditing,
using tools included in most distributions.

It is recommended that rsyslog be used for logging (with logwatch providing

summarization) and auditd be used for auditing (with aureport providing
summarization) to automatically monitor logs for intrusion attempts and other suspicious
system behavior.

In addition to the local log files created by the steps in this section, it is also recommended
that sites collect copies of their system logs on a secure, centralized log server via an
encrypted connection. Not only does centralized logging help sites correlate events that
may be occurring on multiple systems, but having a second copy of the system log
information may be critical after a system compromise where the attacker has modified the
local log files on the affected system(s). If a log correlation system is deployed, configure it
to process the logs described in this section.

Because it is often necessary to correlate log information from many different systems
(particularly after a security incident) it is recommended that the time be synchronized
among systems and devices connected to the local network. The standard Internet protocol
for time synchronization is the Network Time Protocol (NTP), which is supported by most
network-ready devices. See the ntpd(8) manual page for more information on configuring
NTP.

It is important that all logs described in this section be monitored on a regular basis and
correlated to determine trends. A seemingly innocuous entry in one log could be more
significant when compared to an entry in another log.

Note on log file permissions: There really isn't a "one size fits all" solution to the
permissions on log files. Many sites utilize group permissions so that administrators who
are in a defined security group, such as "wheel" do not have to elevate privileges to root in
order to read log files. Also, if a third party log aggregation tool is used, it may need to have
group permissions to read the log files, which is preferable to having it run setuid to root.
Therefore, there are two remediation and audit steps for log file permissions. One is for
systems that do not have a secured group method implemented that only permits root to
read the log files (root:root 600). The other is for sites that do have such a setup and are
designated as root:securegrp 640 where securegrp is the defined security group (in
some cases wheel).

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4.1 Configure Logging
Logging services should be configured to prevent information leaks and to aggregate logs
on a remote server so that they can be reviewed in the event of a system compromise and
ease log analysis.

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4.1.1 Configure stackdriver logging agent
The stackdriver logging agent streams logs from your VM instances and from selected
third-party software packages to Cloud Logging. It is a best practice to run the logging
agent on all your VM instances.

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4.1.1.1 Ensure correct container image is set for stackdriver logging
agent (Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 2 - Server

Description:

stackdriver-logging service runs stackdriver container image to export logs to Cloud

Logging.

Rationale:

If the logging agent is not set correctly, the logs cannot be exported to Cloud Logging.

Audit:

Verify LOGGING_AGENT_DOCKER_IMAGE is set to a correct stackdriver container image. Use

the following command to verify:

# grep LOGGING_AGENT_DOCKER_IMAGE /etc/stackdriver/env_vars

LOGGING_AGENT_DOCKER_IMAGE="gcr.io/stackdriver-agents/stackdriver-logging-
agent:<version>"

Remediation:

Edit the LOGGING_AGENT_DOCKER_IMAGE variable in the /etc/stackdriver/env_vars file to

set the correct logging agent.
Run the following command to restart stackdriver-logging service :

# systemctl restart stackdriver-logging

/etc is stateless on Container-Optimized OS. Therefore, /etc cannot be used to make these
changes persistent across reboots. The steps mentioned above needs to be performed after
every boot.

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CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

8.2 Collect Audit Logs

v8 Collect audit logs. Ensure that logging, per the enterprise’s audit log management ● ● ●
process, has been enabled across enterprise assets.

8.5 Collect Detailed Audit Logs

6.2 Activate audit logging

v7
Ensure that local logging has been enabled on all systems and networking devices.
● ● ●

6.3 Enable Detailed Logging

v7 Enable system logging to include detailed information such as an event source,
date, user, timestamp, source addresses, destination addresses, and other useful
● ●
elements.

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4.1.1.2 Ensure stackdriver Service is running (Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 2 - Server

Description:

Stackdriver logging agent needs to be activated in order to export logs to Cloud Logging.

Rationale:

If the stackdriver-logging service is not running, the logs will not be exported to Cloud
Logging.

Audit:

Run the following commands to verify stackdriver-logging is running:

# systemctl status stackdriver-logging | grep Active

Active: active (running) since <Day date time>

Remediation:

Run the following command to enable stackdriver-logging :

# systemctl start stackdriver-logging

Or update the instance metadata as follows:

# gcloud compute instances add-metadata <instance-name> \

--zone <compute-zone> \
--metadata google-logging-enabled=true

CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

8.2 Collect Audit Logs

v8 Collect audit logs. Ensure that logging, per the enterprise’s audit log management ● ● ●
process, has been enabled across enterprise assets.

v8 8.5 Collect Detailed Audit Logs ● ●

Configure detailed audit logging for enterprise assets containing sensitive data.

120 | P a g e
Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

Include event source, date, username, timestamp, source addresses, destination

addresses, and other useful elements that could assist in a forensic investigation.

6.2 Activate audit logging

v7
Ensure that local logging has been enabled on all systems and networking devices.
● ● ●

6.3 Enable Detailed Logging

v7 Enable system logging to include detailed information such as an event source,
date, user, timestamp, source addresses, destination addresses, and other useful
● ●
elements.

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4.1.1.3 Ensure logging is configured (Manual)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 2 - Server

Description:

The /etc/stackdriver/logging.config.d/*.conf files specifies rules for logging and

which files are to be used to log certain classes of messages.

Rationale:

A great deal of important security-related information is sent via stackdriver-logging

(e.g., successful and failed su attempts, failed login attempts, root login attempts, etc.).

Audit:

Review the contents of the /etc/stackdriver/logging.config.d/*.conf files to ensure

appropriate logging is set. In addition, run the following command and verify that the log
files are logging information:

# ls -l /var/log/

Remediation:

Edit the /etc/stackdriver/logging.config.d/*.conf files as appropriate for your

environment:
Run the following command to reload the stackdriver-logging configuration:

# systemctl restart stackdriver-logging

/etc is stateless on Container-Optimized OS. Therefore, /etc cannot be used to make these
changes persistent across reboots. The steps mentioned above needs to be performed after
every boot.

References:

1. See the rsyslog.conf(5) man page for more information.

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CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

8.2 Collect Audit Logs

v8 Collect audit logs. Ensure that logging, per the enterprise’s audit log management ● ● ●
process, has been enabled across enterprise assets.

8.5 Collect Detailed Audit Logs

6.2 Activate audit logging

v7
Ensure that local logging has been enabled on all systems and networking devices.
● ● ●

6.3 Enable Detailed Logging

v7 Enable system logging to include detailed information such as an event source,
date, user, timestamp, source addresses, destination addresses, and other useful
● ●
elements.

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4.1.2 Configure journald
systemd-journald is a system service that collects and stores logging data. It creates and
maintains structured, indexed journals based on logging information that is received from
a variety of sources: Kernel log messages, via kmsg

Any changes made to the systemd-journald configuration will require a re-start of systemd-
journald

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4.1.2.1 Ensure journald is configured to compress large log files
(Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 2 - Server

Description:

The journald system includes the capability of compressing overly large files to avoid filling
up the system with logs or making the logs unmanageably large.

Rationale:

Uncompressed large files may unexpectedly fill a filesystem leading to resource

unavailability. Compressing logs prior to write can prevent sudden, unexpected filesystem
impacts.

Audit:

Review /etc/systemd/journald.conf and verify that large files will be compressed:

# grep -e Compress /etc/systemd/journald.conf

# Compress=yes

Remediation:

Edit the /etc/systemd/journald.conf file and add the following line:

Compress=yes

Reload the configuration to be effective.

# systemctl force-reload systemd-journald

/etc is stateless on Container-Optimized OS. Therefore, /etc cannot be used to make these
changes persistent across reboots. The steps mentioned above needs to be performed after
every boot.

References:

1. https://github.com/konstruktoid/hardening/blob/master/systemd.adoc#etcsyste
mdjournaldconf

125 | P a g e
Additional Information:

The main configuration file /etc/systemd/journald.conf is read before any of the custom
*.conf files. If there are custom configs present, they override the main configuration
parameters

CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

8.3 Ensure Adequate Audit Log Storage

v8 Ensure that logging destinations maintain adequate storage to comply with the ● ●
enterprise’s audit log management process.

6.4 Ensure adequate storage for logs

v7 Ensure that all systems that store logs have adequate storage space for the logs ● ●
generated.

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4.1.2.2 Ensure journald is configured to write logfiles to persistent disk
(Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 1 - Server

Description:

Data from journald may be stored in volatile memory or persisted locally on the server.
Logs in memory will be lost upon a system reboot. By persisting logs to local disk on the
server they are protected from loss.

Rationale:

Writing log data to disk will provide the ability to forensically reconstruct events which
may have impacted the operations or security of a system even after a system crash or
reboot.

Audit:

Review /etc/systemd/journald.conf and verify that logs are persisted to disk:

# grep -e Storage /etc/systemd/journald.conf

# Storage=persistent

Remediation:

Edit the /etc/systemd/journald.conf file and add the following line:

Storage=persistent

/etc is stateless on Container-Optimized OS. Therefore, /etc cannot be used to make these
changes persistent across reboots. The steps mentioned above needs to be performed after
every boot.

References:

1. https://github.com/konstruktoid/hardening/blob/master/systemd.adoc#etcsyste
mdjournaldconf

127 | P a g e
Additional Information:

The main configuration file /etc/systemd/journald.conf is read before any of the custom
*.conf files. If there are custom configs present, they override the main configuration
parameters

CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

8.2 Collect Audit Logs

v8 Collect audit logs. Ensure that logging, per the enterprise’s audit log management ● ● ●
process, has been enabled across enterprise assets.

8.5 Collect Detailed Audit Logs

6.2 Activate audit logging

v7
Ensure that local logging has been enabled on all systems and networking devices.
● ● ●

6.3 Enable Detailed Logging

v7 Enable system logging to include detailed information such as an event source,
date, user, timestamp, source addresses, destination addresses, and other useful
● ●
elements.

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4.1.3 Ensure permissions on all logfiles are configured (Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 2 - Server

Description:

Log files stored in /var/log/ contain logged information from many services on the system,
or on log hosts others as well.

Rationale:

It is important to ensure that log files have the correct permissions to ensure that sensitive
data is archived and protected.

Audit:

Run the following command and verify that other has no permissions on any files and
group does not have write or execute permissions on any files:

# find /var/log -type f -ls

Remediation:

Run the following commands to set permissions on all existing log files:

find /var/log -type f -exec chmod g-wx,o-rwx "{}" + -o -type d -exec chmod g-
w,o-rwx "{}" +

Additional Information:

You may also need to change the configuration for your logging software or services for any
logs that had incorrect permissions.

CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

3.3 Configure Data Access Control Lists

129 | P a g e
Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

5.1 Establish Secure Configurations

v7 Maintain documented, standard security configuration standards for all ● ● ●
authorized operating systems and software.

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4.2 Ensure logrotate is configured (Manual)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 2 - Server

Description:

The system includes the capability of rotating log files regularly to avoid filling up the
system with logs or making the logs unmanageably large.

Rationale:

By keeping the log files smaller and more manageable, a system administrator can easily
archive these files to another system and spend less time looking through inordinately
large log files.

Audit:

Review /etc/logrotate.conf and /etc/logrotate.d/* and verify logs are rotated

according to site policy.

Remediation:

Edit /etc/logrotate.conf and /etc/logrotate.d/* to ensure logs are rotated according

to site policy.
/etc is stateless on Container-Optimized OS. Therefore, /etc cannot be used to make these
changes persistent across reboots. The steps mentioned above needs to be performed after
every boot.

Additional Information:

If no maxage setting is set for logrotate a situation can occur where logrotate is interrupted
and fails to delete rotated logfiles. It is recommended to set this to a value greater than the
longest any log file should exist on your system to ensure that any such logfile is removed
but standard rotation settings are not overridden.

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CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

8.3 Ensure Adequate Audit Log Storage

v8 Ensure that logging destinations maintain adequate storage to comply with the ● ●
enterprise’s audit log management process.

6.4 Ensure adequate storage for logs

v7 Ensure that all systems that store logs have adequate storage space for the logs ● ●
generated.

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5 Access, Authentication and Authorization

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5.1 SSH Server Configuration
SSH is a secure, encrypted replacement for common login services such as telnet, ftp,
rlogin, rsh, and rcp. It is strongly recommended that sites abandon older clear-text login
protocols and use SSH to prevent session hijacking and sniffing of sensitive data off the
network.

Note: The recommendations in this section only apply if the SSH daemon is installed on the
system, if remote access is not required the SSH daemon can be removed and this section
skipped.

Note: Once all configuration changes have been made to /etc/ssh/sshd_config, the sshd
configuration must be reloaded:

# systemctl reload sshd

Note: /etc is stateless on Container-Optimized OS. Therefore, /etc cannot be used to make
configuration changes persistent across reboots. After a reboot, configuration changes need
to be reapplied.

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5.1.1 Ensure permissions on /etc/ssh/sshd_config are configured
(Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 1 - Server

Description:

The /etc/ssh/sshd_config file contains configuration specifications for sshd. The

command below sets the owner and group of the file to root.

Rationale:

The /etc/ssh/sshd_config file needs to be protected from unauthorized changes by non-

privileged users.

Audit:

Run the following command and verify Uid and Gid are both 0/root and Access does not
grant permissions to group or other:

# stat /etc/ssh/sshd_config
Access: (0600/-rw-------) Uid: ( 0/ root) Gid: ( 0/ root)

Remediation:

Run the following commands to set ownership and permissions on /etc/ssh/sshd_config:

# chown root:root /etc/ssh/sshd_config

# chmod og-rwx /etc/ssh/sshd_config

CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

3.3 Configure Data Access Control Lists

5.1 Establish Secure Configurations

v7 Maintain documented, standard security configuration standards for all ● ● ●
authorized operating systems and software.

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5.1.2 Ensure permissions on SSH private host key files are configured
(Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 1 - Server

Description:

An SSH private key is one of two files used in SSH public key authentication. In this
authentication method, The possession of the private key is proof of identity. Only a private
key that corresponds to a public key will be able to authenticate successfully. The private
keys need to be stored and handled carefully, and no copies of the private key should be
distributed.

Rationale:

If an unauthorized user obtains the private SSH host key file, the host could be
impersonated

Audit:

Run the following command and verify Uid is 0/root and and Gid is 0/root. Ensure group
and other do not have permissions

# find /etc/ssh -xdev -type f -name 'ssh_host_*_key' -exec stat {} \;

File: ‘/etc/ssh/ssh_host_rsa_key’
Size: 1679 Blocks: 8 IO Block: 4096 regular file
Device: ca01h/51713d Inode: 8628138 Links: 1
Access: (0600/-rw-------) Uid: ( 0/ root) Gid: ( 0/root)
Access: 2018-10-22 18:24:56.861750616 +0000
Modify: 2018-10-22 18:24:56.861750616 +0000
Change: 2018-10-22 18:24:56.873750616 +0000
Birth: -
File: ‘/etc/ssh/ssh_host_ecdsa_key’
Size: 227 Blocks: 8 IO Block: 4096 regular file
Device: ca01h/51713d Inode: 8631760 Links: 1
Access: (0600/-rw-------) Uid: ( 0/ root) Gid: ( 0/root)
Access: 2018-10-22 18:24:56.897750616 +0000
Modify: 2018-10-22 18:24:56.897750616 +0000
Change: 2018-10-22 18:24:56.905750616 +0000
Birth: -
File: ‘/etc/ssh/ssh_host_ed25519_key’
Size: 387 Blocks: 8 IO Block: 4096 regular file
Device: ca01h/51713d Inode: 8631762 Links: 1
Access: (0600/-rw-------) Uid: ( 0/ root) Gid: ( 0/root)
Access: 2018-10-22 18:24:56.945750616 +0000
Modify: 2018-10-22 18:24:56.945750616 +0000

136 | P a g e
Change: 2018-10-22 18:24:56.957750616 +0000
Birth: -

Remediation:

Run the following commands to set ownership and permissions on the private SSH host key
files

# find /etc/ssh -xdev -type f -name 'ssh_host_*_key' -exec chown root:root {}

# find /etc/ssh -xdev -type f -name 'ssh_host_*_key' -exec chmod 0600 {} \;

CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

3.3 Configure Data Access Control Lists

5.1 Establish Secure Configurations

v7 Maintain documented, standard security configuration standards for all ● ● ●
authorized operating systems and software.

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5.1.3 Ensure permissions on SSH public host key files are configured
(Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 1 - Server

Description:

An SSH public key is one of two files used in SSH public key authentication. In this
authentication method, a public key is a key that can be used for verifying digital signatures
generated using a corresponding private key. Only a public key that corresponds to a
private key will be able to authenticate successfully.

Rationale:

If a public host key file is modified by an unauthorized user, the SSH service may be
compromised.

Audit:

Run the following command and verify Access does not grant write or execute permissions
to group or other for all returned files

# find /etc/ssh -xdev -type f -name 'ssh_host_*_key.pub' -exec stat {} \;

File: ‘/etc/ssh/ssh_host_rsa_key.pub’
Size: 382 Blocks: 8 IO Block: 4096 regular file
Device: ca01h/51713d Inode: 8631758 Links: 1
Access: (0644/-rw-r--r--) Uid: ( 0/ root) Gid: ( 0/ root)
Access: 2018-10-22 18:24:56.861750616 +0000
Modify: 2018-10-22 18:24:56.861750616 +0000
Change: 2018-10-22 18:24:56.881750616 +0000
Birth: -
File: ‘/etc/ssh/ssh_host_ecdsa_key.pub’
Size: 162 Blocks: 8 IO Block: 4096 regular file
Device: ca01h/51713d Inode: 8631761 Links: 1
Access: (0644/-rw-r--r--) Uid: ( 0/ root) Gid: ( 0/ root)
Access: 2018-10-22 18:24:56.897750616 +0000
Modify: 2018-10-22 18:24:56.897750616 +0000
Change: 2018-10-22 18:24:56.917750616 +0000
Birth: -
File: ‘/etc/ssh/ssh_host_ed25519_key.pub’
Size: 82 Blocks: 8 IO Block: 4096 regular file
Device: ca01h/51713d Inode: 8631763 Links: 1
Access: (0644/-rw-r--r--) Uid: ( 0/ root) Gid: ( 0/ root)
Access: 2018-10-22 18:24:56.945750616 +0000
Modify: 2018-10-22 18:24:56.945750616 +0000

138 | P a g e
Change: 2018-10-22 18:24:56.961750616 +0000
Birth: -

Remediation:

Run the following commands to set permissions and ownership on the SSH host public key
files

# find /etc/ssh -xdev -type f -name 'ssh_host_*_key.pub' -exec chmod 0644 {}

#find /etc/ssh -xdev -type f -name 'ssh_host_*_key.pub' -exec chown root:root

{} \;

CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

3.3 Configure Data Access Control Lists

5.1 Establish Secure Configurations

v7 Maintain documented, standard security configuration standards for all ● ● ●
authorized operating systems and software.

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5.1.4 Ensure SSH Protocol is set to 2 (Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 1 - Server

Description:

Older versions of SSH support two different and incompatible protocols: SSH1 and SSH2.
SSH1 was the original protocol and was subject to security issues. SSH2 is more advanced
and secure.

Rationale:

SSH v1 suffers from insecurities that do not affect SSH v2.

Audit:

Run the following command and verify that output matches:

# grep ^Protocol /etc/ssh/sshd_config

Protocol 2

Remediation:

Edit the /etc/ssh/sshd_config file to set the parameter as follows:

Protocol 2

Additional Information:

This command not longer exists in newer versions of SSH. This check is still being included
for systems that may be running an older version of SSH. As of openSSH version 7.4 this
parameter will not cause an issue when included.

CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

3.10 Encrypt Sensitive Data in Transit

v8 Encrypt sensitive data in transit. Example implementations can include: Transport ● ●
Layer Security (TLS) and Open Secure Shell (OpenSSH).

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Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

4.6 Securely Manage Enterprise Assets and Software

Securely manage enterprise assets and software. Example implementations include
managing configuration through version-controlled-infrastructure-as-code and
v8 accessing administrative interfaces over secure network protocols, such as Secure Shell ● ● ●
(SSH) and Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS). Do not use insecure
management protocols, such as Telnet (Teletype Network) and HTTP, unless
operationally essential.

4.5 Use Multifactor Authentication For All Administrative

v7 Access ● ●
Use multi-factor authentication and encrypted channels for all administrative
account access.

14.4 Encrypt All Sensitive Information in Transit

v7
Encrypt all sensitive information in transit.
● ●

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5.1.5 Ensure SSH LogLevel is appropriate (Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 1 - Server

Description:

INFO level is the basic level that only records login activity of SSH users. In many situations,
such as Incident Response, it is important to determine when a particular user was active
on a system. The logout record can eliminate those users who disconnected, which helps
narrow the field.

VERBOSE level specifies that login and logout activity as well as the key fingerprint for any
SSH key used for login will be logged. This information is important for SSH key
management, especially in legacy environments.

Rationale:

SSH provides several logging levels with varying amounts of verbosity. DEBUG is specifically
not recommended other than strictly for debugging SSH communications since it provides
so much data that it is difficult to identify important security information.

Audit:

Run the following command and verify that output matches:

# sshd -T | grep loglevel

LogLevel VERBOSE

loglevel INFO

Remediation:

Edit the /etc/ssh/sshd_config file to set the parameter as follows:

LogLevel VERBOSE

LogLevel INFO

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Default Value:

LogLevel INFO

References:

1. https://www.ssh.com/ssh/sshd_config/

CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

8.2 Collect Audit Logs

v8 Collect audit logs. Ensure that logging, per the enterprise’s audit log management ● ● ●
process, has been enabled across enterprise assets.

8.5 Collect Detailed Audit Logs

6.2 Activate audit logging

v7
Ensure that local logging has been enabled on all systems and networking devices.
● ● ●

6.3 Enable Detailed Logging

v7 Enable system logging to include detailed information such as an event source,
date, user, timestamp, source addresses, destination addresses, and other useful
● ●
elements.

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5.1.6 Ensure SSH X11 forwarding is disabled (Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 1 - Server

Description:

The X11Forwarding parameter provides the ability to tunnel X11 traffic through the
connection to enable remote graphic connections.

Rationale:

Disable X11 forwarding unless there is an operational requirement to use X11 applications
directly. There is a small risk that the remote X11 servers of users who are logged in via
SSH with X11 forwarding could be compromised by other users on the X11 server. Note
that even if X11 forwarding is disabled, users can always install their own forwarders.

Audit:

Run the following command and verify that output matches:

# sshd -T | grep x11forwarding

X11Forwarding no

Remediation:

Edit the /etc/ssh/sshd_config file to set the parameter as follows:

X11Forwarding no

CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

4.4 Implement and Manage a Firewall on Servers

v8 Implement and manage a firewall on servers, where supported. Example
implementations include a virtual firewall, operating system firewall, or a third-party
● ● ●
firewall agent.

4.5 Implement and Manage a Firewall on End-User Devices

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Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

9.2 Ensure Only Approved Ports, Protocols and Services Are

v7 Running ● ●
Ensure that only network ports, protocols, and services listening on a system with
validated business needs, are running on each system.

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5.1.7 Ensure SSH MaxAuthTries is set to 4 or less (Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 2 - Server

Description:

The MaxAuthTries parameter specifies the maximum number of authentication attempts

permitted per connection. When the login failure count reaches half the number, error
messages will be written to the journald logs detailing the login failure.

Rationale:

Setting the MaxAuthTries parameter to a low number will minimize the risk of successful
brute force attacks to the SSH server. While the recommended setting is 4, set the number
based on site policy.

Audit:

Run the following command and verify that output MaxAuthTries is 4 or less:

# sshd -T | grep maxauthtries

MaxAuthTries 4

Remediation:

Edit the /etc/ssh/sshd_config file to set the parameter as follows:

MaxAuthTries 4

Default Value:

MaxAuthTries 6

CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

8.2 Collect Audit Logs

v8 Collect audit logs. Ensure that logging, per the enterprise’s audit log ● ● ●
management process, has been enabled across enterprise assets.

146 | P a g e
Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

16.13 Alert on Account Login Behavior Deviation

v7 Alert when users deviate from normal login behavior, such as time-of-day, ●
workstation location and duration.

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5.1.8 Ensure SSH IgnoreRhosts is enabled (Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 1 - Server

Description:

The IgnoreRhosts parameter specifies that .rhosts and .shosts files will not be used in
RhostsRSAAuthentication or HostbasedAuthentication.

Rationale:

Setting this parameter forces users to enter a password when authenticating with ssh.

Audit:

Run the following command and verify that output matches:

# sshd -T | grep ignorerhosts

IgnoreRhosts yes

Remediation:

Edit the /etc/ssh/sshd_config file to set the parameter as follows:

IgnoreRhosts yes

Default Value:

IgnoreRhosts yes

CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

4.4 Implement and Manage a Firewall on Servers

v8 Implement and manage a firewall on servers, where supported. Example
implementations include a virtual firewall, operating system firewall, or a third-party
● ● ●
firewall agent.

v8 4.5 Implement and Manage a Firewall on End-User Devices ● ● ●

Implement and manage a host-based firewall or port-filtering tool on end-user

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Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

devices, with a default-deny rule that drops all traffic except those services and ports
that are explicitly allowed.

9.2 Ensure Only Approved Ports, Protocols and Services Are

v7 Running ● ●
Ensure that only network ports, protocols, and services listening on a system with
validated business needs, are running on each system.

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5.1.9 Ensure SSH HostbasedAuthentication is disabled (Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 1 - Server

Description:

The HostbasedAuthentication parameter specifies if authentication is allowed through

trusted hosts via the user of .rhosts, or /etc/hosts.equiv, along with successful public
key client host authentication. This option only applies to SSH Protocol Version 2.

Rationale:

Even though the .rhosts files are ineffective if support is disabled in /etc/pam.conf,
disabling the ability to use .rhosts files in SSH provides an additional layer of protection.

Audit:

Run the following command and verify that output matches:

# sshd -T | grep hostbasedauthentication

HostbasedAuthentication no

Remediation:

Edit the /etc/ssh/sshd_config file to set the parameter as follows:

HostbasedAuthentication no

Default Value:

HostbasedAuthentication no

CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

6.3 Require MFA for Externally-Exposed Applications

v8 Require all externally-exposed enterprise or third-party applications to enforce
MFA, where supported. Enforcing MFA through a directory service or SSO provider is
● ●
a satisfactory implementation of this Safeguard.

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Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

16.3 Require Multi-factor Authentication

v7 Require multi-factor authentication for all user accounts, on all systems, whether ● ●
managed onsite or by a third-party provider.

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5.1.10 Ensure SSH root login is disabled (Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 1 - Server

Description:

The PermitRootLogin parameter specifies if the root user can log in using ssh. The default
is no.

Rationale:

Disallowing root logins over SSH requires system admins to authenticate using their own
individual account, then escalating to root via sudo or su. This in turn limits opportunity for
non-repudiation and provides a clear audit trail in the event of a security incident

Audit:

Run the following command and verify that output matches:

# sshd -T | grep permitrootlogin

PermitRootLogin no

Remediation:

Edit the /etc/ssh/sshd_config file to set the parameter as follows:

PermitRootLogin no

Default Value:

PermitRootLogin without-password

CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

5.4 Restrict Administrator Privileges to Dedicated

Administrator Accounts
v8 Restrict administrator privileges to dedicated administrator accounts on ● ● ●
enterprise assets. Conduct general computing activities, such as internet browsing,
email, and productivity suite use, from the user’s primary, non-privileged account.

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Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

4.3 Ensure the Use of Dedicated Administrative Accounts

v7 Ensure that all users with administrative account access use a dedicated or
secondary account for elevated activities. This account should only be used for
● ● ●
administrative activities and not internet browsing, email, or similar activities.

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5.1.11 Ensure SSH PermitEmptyPasswords is disabled (Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 1 - Server

Description:

The PermitEmptyPasswords parameter specifies if the SSH server allows login to accounts
with empty password strings.

Rationale:

Disallowing remote shell access to accounts that have an empty password reduces the
probability of unauthorized access to the system

Audit:

Run the following command and verify that output matches:

# sshd -T | grep permitemptypasswords

PermitEmptyPasswords no

Remediation:

Edit the /etc/ssh/sshd_config file to set the parameter as follows:

PermitEmptyPasswords no

Default Value:

PermitEmptyPasswords no

CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

6.3 Require MFA for Externally-Exposed Applications

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Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

16.3 Require Multi-factor Authentication

v7 Require multi-factor authentication for all user accounts, on all systems, whether ● ●
managed onsite or by a third-party provider.

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5.1.12 Ensure SSH PermitUserEnvironment is disabled (Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 1 - Server

Description:

The PermitUserEnvironment option allows users to present environment options to the

ssh daemon.

Rationale:

Permitting users the ability to set environment variables through the SSH daemon could
potentially allow users to bypass security controls (e.g. setting an execution path that has
ssh executing trojan'd programs)

Audit:

Run the following command and verify that output matches:

# sshd -T | grep permituserenvironment

PermitUserEnvironment no

Remediation:

Edit the /etc/ssh/sshd_config file to set the parameter as follows:

PermitUserEnvironment no

Default Value:

PermitUserEnvironment no

CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

3.3 Configure Data Access Control Lists

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Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

5.1 Establish Secure Configurations

v7 Maintain documented, standard security configuration standards for all ● ● ●
authorized operating systems and software.

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5.1.13 Ensure only strong Ciphers are used (Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 1 - Server

Description:

This variable limits the ciphers that SSH can use during communication.

Rationale:

Weak ciphers that are used for authentication to the cryptographic module cannot be relied
upon to provide confidentiality or integrity, and system data may be compromised

The DES, Triple DES, and Blowfish ciphers, as used in SSH, have a birthday bound of
approximately four billion blocks, which makes it easier for remote attackers to obtain
cleartext data via a birthday attack against a long-duration encrypted session, aka a
"Sweet32" attack

The RC4 algorithm, as used in the TLS protocol and SSL protocol, does not properly
combine state data with key data during the initialization phase, which makes it easier for
remote attackers to conduct plaintext-recovery attacks against the initial bytes of a stream
by sniffing network traffic that occasionally relies on keys affected by the Invariance
Weakness, and then using a brute-force approach involving LSB values, aka the "Bar
Mitzvah" issue

The passwords used during an SSH session encrypted with RC4 can be recovered by an
attacker who is able to capture and replay the session

Error handling in the SSH protocol; Client and Server, when using a block cipher algorithm
in Cipher Block Chaining (CBC) mode, makes it easier for remote attackers to recover
certain plaintext data from an arbitrary block of ciphertext in an SSH session via unknown
vectors

The mm_newkeys_from_blob function in monitor_wrap.c, when an AES-GCM cipher is used,

does not properly initialize memory for a MAC context data structure, which allows remote
authenticated users to bypass intended ForceCommand and login-shell restrictions via
packet data that provides a crafted callback address

Audit:

Run the following command and verify that output does not contain any of the listed weak
ciphers

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# sshd -T | grep ciphers

Weak Ciphers:

3des-cbc
aes128-cbc
aes192-cbc
aes256-cbc
arcfour
arcfour128
arcfour256
blowfish-cbc
cast128-cbc
[email protected]

Remediation:

Edit the /etc/ssh/sshd_config file add/modify the Ciphers line to contain a comma
separated list of the site approved ciphers
Example:

Ciphers [email protected],[email protected],aes128-
[email protected],aes256-ctr,aes192-ctr,aes128-ctr

Default Value:

ciphers [email protected],[email protected],chacha20-
[email protected],aes128-ctr,aes192-ctr,aes256-ctr

References:

1. https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2016-2183
2. https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2015-2808
3. https://www.kb.cert.org/vuls/id/565052
4. https://www.openssh.com/txt/cbc.adv
5. https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2008-5161
6. https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2013-4548
7. https://www.kb.cert.org/vuls/id/565052
8. https://www.openssh.com/txt/cbc.adv
9. SSHD_CONFIG(5)

Additional Information:

Some organizations may have stricter requirements for approved ciphers. Ensure that
ciphers used are in compliance with site policy.

The only "strong" ciphers currently FIPS 140-2 compliant are: aes256-ctr,aes192-
ctr,aes128-ctr

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CVE-2013-4548 referenced above applies to OpenSSH versions 6.2 and 6.3. If running these
versions of Open SSH, Please upgrade to version 6.4 or later to fix the vulnerability, or
disable AES-GCM in the server configuration.

The Following are the supported ciphers in openSSH:

3des-cbc

aes128-cbc

aes192-cbc

aes256-cbc

aes128-ctr

aes192-ctr

aes256-ctr

[email protected]

arcfour

arcfour128

arcfour256

blowfish-cbc

cast128-cbc

[email protected]

CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

3.10 Encrypt Sensitive Data in Transit

v8 Encrypt sensitive data in transit. Example implementations can include: ● ●
Transport Layer Security (TLS) and Open Secure Shell (OpenSSH).

14.4 Encrypt All Sensitive Information in Transit

v7
Encrypt all sensitive information in transit.
● ●

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5.1.14 Ensure only strong MAC algorithms are used (Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 2 - Server

Description:

This variable limits the types of MAC algorithms that SSH can use during communication.

Rationale:

MD5 and 96-bit MAC algorithms are considered weak and have been shown to increase
exploitability in SSH downgrade attacks. Weak algorithms continue to have a great deal of
attention as a weak spot that can be exploited with expanded computing power. An
attacker that breaks the algorithm could take advantage of a MiTM position to decrypt the
SSH tunnel and capture credentials and information

Audit:

Run the following command and verify that output does not contain any of the listed weak
MAC algorithms:

# sshd -T | grep -i "MACs"

Weak MAC algorithms:

hmac-md5
hmac-md5-96
hmac-ripemd160
hmac-sha1
hmac-sha1-96
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]

Remediation:

Edit the /etc/ssh/sshd_config file and add/modify the MACs line to contain a comma
separated list of the site approved MACs
Example:

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MACs [email protected],[email protected],hmac-sha2-
512,hmac-sha2-256

Default Value:

macs [email protected],[email protected],hmac-sha2-256-
[email protected],[email protected],hmac-sha1-
[email protected],[email protected],[email protected],hmac-sha2-
256,hmac-sha2-512,hmac-sha1

References:

1. More information on SSH downgrade attacks can be found here:

http://www.mitls.org/pages/attacks/SLOTH
2. SSHD_CONFIG(5)

Additional Information:

Some organizations may have stricter requirements for approved MACs. Ensure that MACs
used are in compliance with site policy.

The only "strong" MACs currently FIPS 140-2 approved are hmac-sha2-256 and hmac-
sha2-512

The Supported MACs are:

hmac-md5

hmac-md5-96

hmac-ripemd160

hmac-sha1

hmac-sha1-96

hmac-sha2-256

hmac-sha2-512

[email protected]

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[email protected]

[email protected]

CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

3.10 Encrypt Sensitive Data in Transit

v8 Encrypt sensitive data in transit. Example implementations can include: ● ●
Transport Layer Security (TLS) and Open Secure Shell (OpenSSH).

14.4 Encrypt All Sensitive Information in Transit

v7
Encrypt all sensitive information in transit.
● ●

16.5 Encrypt Transmittal of Username and Authentication

v7 Credentials ● ●
Ensure that all account usernames and authentication credentials are
transmitted across networks using encrypted channels.

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5.1.15 Ensure only strong Key Exchange algorithms are used
(Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 1 - Server

Description:

Key exchange is any method in cryptography by which cryptographic keys are exchanged
between two parties, allowing use of a cryptographic algorithm. If the sender and receiver
wish to exchange encrypted messages, each must be equipped to encrypt messages to be
sent and decrypt messages received

Rationale:

Key exchange methods that are considered weak should be removed. A key exchange
method may be weak because too few bits are used, or the hashing algorithm is considered
too weak. Using weak algorithms could expose connections to man-in-the-middle attacks

Audit:

Run the following command and verify that output does not contain any of the listed weak
Key Exchange algorithms

# sshd -T | grep kexalgorithms

Weak Key Exchange Algorithms:

diffie-hellman-group1-sha1
diffie-hellman-group14-sha1
diffie-hellman-group-exchange-sha1

Remediation:

Edit the /etc/ssh/sshd_config file add/modify the KexAlgorithms line to contain a comma
separated list of the site approved key exchange algorithms
Example:

KexAlgorithms curve25519-sha256,[email protected],diffie-hellman-
group14-sha256,diffie-hellman-group16-sha512,diffie-hellman-group18-
sha512,ecdh-sha2-nistp521,ecdh-sha2-nistp384,ecdh-sha2-nistp256,diffie-
hellman-group-exchange-sha256

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Default Value:

kexalgorithms curve25519-sha256,[email protected],ecdh-sha2-
nistp256,ecdh-sha2-nistp384,ecdh-sha2-nistp521,diffie-hellman-group-exchange-
sha256,diffie-hellman-group16-sha512,diffie-hellman-group18-sha512,diffie-hellman-
group14-sha256

Additional Information:

Kex algorithms have a higher preference the earlier they appear in the list

Some organizations may have stricter requirements for approved Key exchange algorithms.
Ensure that Key exchange algorithms used are in compliance with site policy.

The only Key Exchange Algorithms currently FIPS 140-2 approved are: ecdh-sha2-
nistp256,ecdh-sha2-nistp384,ecdh-sha2-nistp521,diffie-hellman-group-exchange-
sha256,diffie-hellman-group16-sha512,diffie-hellman-group18-sha512,diffie-hellman-
group14-sha256

The Key Exchange algorithms supported by OpenSSH 7 are:

curve25519-sha256

[email protected]

diffie-hellman-group1-sha1

diffie-hellman-group14-sha1

diffie-hellman-group-exchange-sha1

diffie-hellman-group-exchange-sha256

ecdh-sha2-nistp256

ecdh-sha2-nistp384

ecdh-sha2-nistp521

CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

3.10 Encrypt Sensitive Data in Transit

v8 Encrypt sensitive data in transit. Example implementations can include: ● ●
Transport Layer Security (TLS) and Open Secure Shell (OpenSSH).

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Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

14.4 Encrypt All Sensitive Information in Transit

v7
Encrypt all sensitive information in transit.
● ●

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5.1.16 Ensure SSH Idle Timeout Interval is configured (Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 2 - Server

Description:

The two options ClientAliveInterval and ClientAliveCountMax control the timeout of

ssh sessions. When the ClientAliveInterval variable is set, ssh sessions that have no
activity for the specified length of time are terminated. When the ClientAliveCountMax
variable is set, sshd will send client alive messages at every ClientAliveInterval interval.
When the number of consecutive client alive messages are sent with no response from the
client, the ssh session is terminated. For example, if the ClientAliveInterval is set to 15
seconds and the ClientAliveCountMax is set to 3, the client ssh session will be terminated
after 45 seconds of idle time.

Rationale:

Having no timeout value associated with a connection could allow an unauthorized user
access to another user's ssh session (e.g. user walks away from their computer and doesn't
lock the screen). Setting a timeout value at least reduces the risk of this happening..

While the recommended setting is 300 seconds (5 minutes), set this timeout value based on
site policy. The recommended setting for ClientAliveCountMax is 0. In this case, the client
session will be terminated after 5 minutes of idle time and no keepalive messages will be
sent.

Audit:

Run the following commands and verify ClientAliveInterval is between 1 and 300 and
ClientAliveCountMax is 3 or less:

# sshd -T | grep clientaliveinterval

ClientAliveInterval 300

# sshd -T | grep clientalivecountmax

ClientAliveCountMax 0

Remediation:

Edit the /etc/ssh/sshd_config file to set the parameters according to site policy:

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ClientAliveInterval 300

ClientAliveCountMax 0

Default Value:

ClientAliveInterval 420

ClientAliveCountMax 3

CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

4.3 Configure Automatic Session Locking on Enterprise

Assets
v8 Configure automatic session locking on enterprise assets after a defined period of ● ● ●
inactivity. For general purpose operating systems, the period must not exceed 15
minutes. For mobile end-user devices, the period must not exceed 2 minutes.

16.11 Lock Workstation Sessions After Inactivity

v7
Automatically lock workstation sessions after a standard period of inactivity.
● ● ●

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5.1.17 Ensure SSH LoginGraceTime is set to one minute or less
(Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 2 - Server

Description:

The LoginGraceTime parameter specifies the time allowed for successful authentication to
the SSH server. The longer the Grace period is the more open unauthenticated connections
can exist. Like other session controls in this session the Grace Period should be limited to
appropriate organizational limits to ensure the service is available for needed access.

Rationale:

Setting the LoginGraceTime parameter to a low number will minimize the risk of successful
brute force attacks to the SSH server. It will also limit the number of concurrent
unauthenticated connections While the recommended setting is 60 seconds (1 Minute), set
the number based on site policy.

Audit:

Run the following command and verify that output LoginGraceTime is between 1 and 60:

# sshd -T | grep logingracetime

LoginGraceTime 60

Remediation:

Edit the /etc/ssh/sshd_config file to set the parameter as follows:

LoginGraceTime 60

Default Value:

LoginGraceTime 120

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CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

5.1 Establish Secure Configurations

v7 Maintain documented, standard security configuration standards for all ● ● ●
authorized operating systems and software.

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5.1.18 Ensure SSH access is limited (Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 2 - Server

Description:

There are several options available to limit which users and group can access the system
via SSH. It is recommended that at least one of the following options be leveraged:
AllowUsers

The AllowUsers variable gives the system administrator the option of allowing specific
users to ssh into the system. The list consists of space separated user names. Numeric user
IDs are not recognized with this variable. If a system administrator wants to restrict user
access further by only allowing the allowed users to log in from a particular host, the entry
can be specified in the form of user@host.
AllowGroups

The AllowGroups variable gives the system administrator the option of allowing specific
groups of users to ssh into the system. The list consists of space separated group names.
Numeric group IDs are not recognized with this variable.
DenyUsers

The DenyUsers variable gives the system administrator the option of denying specific users
to ssh into the system. The list consists of space separated user names. Numeric user IDs
are not recognized with this variable. If a system administrator wants to restrict user
access further by specifically denying a user's access from a particular host, the entry can
be specified in the form of user@host.
DenyGroups

The DenyGroups variable gives the system administrator the option of denying specific
groups of users to ssh into the system. The list consists of space separated group names.
Numeric group IDs are not recognized with this variable.

Rationale:

Restricting which users can remotely access the system via SSH will help ensure that only
authorized users access the system.

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Audit:

Run the following commands and verify that output matches for at least one:

# sshd -T | grep allowusers

AllowUsers <userlist>

# sshd -T | grep allowgroups

AllowGroups <grouplist>

# sshd -T | grep denyusers

DenyUsers <userlist>

# sshd -T | grep denygroups

DenyGroups <grouplist>

Remediation:

Edit the /etc/ssh/sshd_config file to set one or more of the parameter as follows:

AllowUsers <userlist>

AllowGroups <grouplist>

DenyUsers <userlist>

DenyGroups <grouplist>

CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

5.4 Restrict Administrator Privileges to Dedicated

4.3 Ensure the Use of Dedicated Administrative Accounts

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5.1.19 Ensure SSH warning banner is configured (Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 2 - Server

Description:

The Banner parameter specifies a file whose contents must be sent to the remote user
before authentication is permitted. By default, no banner is displayed.

Rationale:

Banners are used to warn connecting users of the particular site's policy regarding
connection. Presenting a warning message prior to the normal user login may assist the
prosecution of trespassers on the computer system.

Audit:

Run the following command and verify that output matches:

# sshd -T | grep banner

Banner /etc/issue.net

Remediation:

Edit the /etc/ssh/sshd_config file to set the parameter as follows:

Banner /etc/issue.net

CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

5.1 Establish Secure Configurations

v7 Maintain documented, standard security configuration standards for all ● ● ●
authorized operating systems and software.

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5.1.20 Ensure SSH PAM is enabled (Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 1 - Server

Description:

UsePAM Enables the Pluggable Authentication Module interface. If set to “yes” this will
enable PAM authentication using ChallengeResponseAuthentication and
PasswordAuthentication in addition to PAM account and session module processing for all
authentication types

Rationale:

When usePAM is set to yes, PAM runs through account and session types properly. This is
important if you want to restrict access to services based off of IP, time or other factors of
the account. Additionally, you can make sure users inherit certain environment variables
on login or disallow access to the server

Impact:

If UsePAM is enabled, you will not be able to run sshd(8) as a non-root user.

Audit:

Run the following command and verify that output matches:

# sshd -T | grep -i usepam

usepam yes

Remediation:

Edit the /etc/ssh/sshd_config file to set the parameter as follows:

UsePAM yes

Default Value:

usePAM yes

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CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

6.8 Define and Maintain Role-Based Access Control

Define and maintain role-based access control, through determining and
v8 documenting the access rights necessary for each role within the enterprise to
successfully carry out its assigned duties. Perform access control reviews of enterprise
●
assets to validate that all privileges are authorized, on a recurring schedule at a
minimum annually, or more frequently.

5.1 Establish Secure Configurations

v7 Maintain documented, standard security configuration standards for all authorized ● ● ●
operating systems and software.

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5.1.21 Ensure SSH AllowTcpForwarding is disabled (Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 2 - Server

Description:

SSH port forwarding is a mechanism in SSH for tunneling application ports from the client
to the server, or servers to clients. It can be used for adding encryption to legacy
applications, going through firewalls, and some system administrators and IT professionals
use it for opening backdoors into the internal network from their home machines

Rationale:

Leaving port forwarding enabled can expose the organization to security risks and back-
doors.

SSH connections are protected with strong encryption. This makes their contents invisible
to most deployed network monitoring and traffic filtering solutions. This invisibility carries
considerable risk potential if it is used for malicious purposes such as data exfiltration.
Cybercriminals or malware could exploit SSH to hide their unauthorized communications,
or to exfiltrate stolen data from the target network

Impact:

SSH tunnels are widely used in many corporate environments that employ mainframe
systems as their application backends. In those environments the applications themselves
may have very limited native support for security. By utilizing tunneling, compliance with
SOX, HIPAA, PCI-DSS, and other standards can be achieved without having to modify the
applications.

Audit:

Run the following command and verify that output matches:

# sshd -T | grep -i allowtcpforwarding

AllowTcpForwarding no

Remediation:

Edit the /etc/ssh/sshd_config file to set the parameter as follows:

AllowTcpForwarding no

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Default Value:

AllowTcpForwarding yes

References:

1. https://www.ssh.com/ssh/tunneling/example

CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

4.4 Implement and Manage a Firewall on Servers

v8 Implement and manage a firewall on servers, where supported. Example
implementations include a virtual firewall, operating system firewall, or a third-party
● ● ●
firewall agent.

4.5 Implement and Manage a Firewall on End-User Devices

9.2 Ensure Only Approved Ports, Protocols and Services Are

v7 Running ● ●
Ensure that only network ports, protocols, and services listening on a system with
validated business needs, are running on each system.

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5.1.22 Ensure SSH MaxStartups is configured (Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 2 - Server

Description:

The MaxStartups parameter specifies the maximum number of concurrent unauthenticated

connections to the SSH daemon.

Rationale:

To protect a system from denial of service due to a large number of pending authentication
connection attempts, use the rate limiting function of MaxStartups to protect availability of
sshd logins and prevent overwhelming the daemon.

Audit:

Run the following command and verify that output MaxStartups is 10:30:60 or matches
site policy:

# sshd -T | grep -i maxstartups

# maxstartups 10:30:60

Remediation:

Edit the /etc/ssh/sshd_config file to set the parameter as follows:

maxstartups 10:30:60

CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

5.1 Establish Secure Configurations

v7 Maintain documented, standard security configuration standards for all ● ● ●
authorized operating systems and software.

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5.1.23 Ensure SSH MaxSessions is set to 4 or less (Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 2 - Server

Description:

The MaxSessions parameter specifies the maximum number of open sessions permitted
from a given connection.

Rationale:

To protect a system from denial of service due to a large number of concurrent sessions,
use the rate limiting function of MaxSessions to protect availability of sshd logins and
prevent overwhelming the daemon.

Audit:

Run the following command and verify that output MaxSessions is 4 or less, or matches site
policy:

# sshd -T | grep -i maxsessions

# maxsessions 4

Remediation:

Edit the /etc/ssh/sshd_config file to set the parameter as follows:

MaxSessions 4

CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

5.1 Establish Secure Configurations

v7 Maintain documented, standard security configuration standards for all ● ● ●
authorized operating systems and software.

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5.2 Configure PAM
PAM (Pluggable Authentication Modules) is a service that implements modular
authentication modules on UNIX systems. PAM is implemented as a set of shared objects
that are loaded and executed when a program needs to authenticate a user. Files for PAM
are typically located in the /etc/pam.d directory. PAM must be carefully configured to
secure system authentication. While this section covers some of PAM, please consult other
PAM resources to fully understand the configuration capabilities.

Note: /etc is stateless on Container-Optimized OS. Therefore, /etc cannot be used to make
configuration changes persistent across reboots. After a reboot, configuration changes need
to be reapplied.

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5.2.1 Ensure password creation requirements are configured
(Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 2 - Server

Description:

The pam_passwdqc.so module checks the strength of passwords. It performs checks such as
making sure a password is not a dictionary word, it is a certain length, contains a mix of
characters (e.g. alphabet, numeric, other) and more based on the following options set in
the /etc/security/passwdqc.conf:

• min=disabled,disabled,disabled,disabled,14 - The password must be 14

characters or more and consists of four character classes.
• max=40 - The maximum allowed password length is 40.
• passphrase=3 - The number of words required for a passphrase is at least 3.
• match=4 - The length of common substring required to conclude that a password is
at least partially based on information found in a character string is 4.
• similar=deny - The password that is similar to the old one is going to be denied.
• random=47 - The size of randomly-generated passphrases in bits is 47.
• enforce=everyone - Warn everyone for weak passwords.
• retry=3 - Let the user provide a password 3 times if the user fails to provide a
sufficiently strong password and enter it twice the first time.

For more details, refer to pam_passwdqc module documentation. The settings shown above
are one possible policy. Alter these values to conform to your own organization's password
policies.

Rationale:

Strong passwords protect systems from being hacked through brute force methods.

Audit:

Verify password creation requirements conform to organization policy in

/etc/security/passwdqc.conf with the following command.

# cat /etc/security/passwdqc.conf

min=disabled,disabled,disabled,disabled,14
max=40
passphrase=3
match=4

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similar=deny
random=47
enforce=everyone
retry=3

Run the following command and verify that the output is similar to:

grep pam_passwdqc.so /etc/pam.d/system-auth

password required pam_passwdqc.so
config=/etc/security/passwdqc.conf

Remediation:

Edit the file /etc/security/passwdqc.conf and add or modify the following lines for
password length and complexity to conform to site policy:

min=disabled,disabled,disabled,disabled,14
max=40
passphrase=3
match=4
similar=deny
random=47
enforce=everyone
retry=3

Edit the /etc/pam.d/system-auth files to include the appropriate options for

pam_passwdqc.so and to conform to site policy:

password required pam_passwdqc.so

config=/etc/security/passwdqc.conf

Additional Information:

Consult your documentation for the appropriate PAM file and module.

Additional module options may be set, recommendation requirements only cover including
try_first_pass and minlen set to 14 or more.

Settings in /etc/security/pwquality.conf must use spaces around the = symbol.

CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

v8 5.2 Use Unique Passwords ● ● ●

Use unique passwords for all enterprise assets. Best practice implementation

182 | P a g e
Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

includes, at a minimum, an 8-character password for accounts using MFA and a 14-
character password for accounts not using MFA.

4.4 Use Unique Passwords

v7 Where multi-factor authentication is not supported (such as local administrator, ● ●
root, or service accounts), accounts will use passwords that are unique to that system.

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5.2.2 Ensure password reuse is limited (Manual)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 2 - Server

Description:

The /etc/security/opasswd file stores the users' old passwords and can be checked to
ensure that users are not recycling recent passwords.

Rationale:

Forcing users not to reuse their past 5 passwords make it less likely that an attacker will be
able to guess the password.

Note that these change only apply to accounts configured on the local system.

Audit:

Verify remembered password history is 5 or more. This setting is commonly configured

with the pam_unix.so or pam_pwhistory.so remember options found in
/etc/pam.d/common-password or /etc/pam.d/system-auth . Examples:

password required pam_pwhistory.so remember=5

password required pam_unix.so remember=5

Remediation:

Set remembered password history to conform to site policy. Many distributions provide
tools for updating PAM configuration, consult your documentation for details. If no tooling
is provided edit the appropriate /etc/pam.d/ configuration file and add or modify the
pam_pwhistory.so or pam_unix.so lines to include the remember option:

password required pam_pwhistory.so remember=5

password required pam_unix.so remember=5

Additional Information:

Consult your documentation for the appropriate PAM file and module.

Additional module options may be set, recommendation only covers those listed here.

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CIS Controls:

Controls Version Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3

v7 16 Account Monitoring and Control

Account Monitoring and Control

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5.2.3 Ensure password hashing algorithm is SHA-512 (Manual)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 2 - Server

Description:

The commands below change password encryption from md5 to sha512 (a much stronger
hashing algorithm). All existing accounts will need to perform a password change to
upgrade the stored hashes to the new algorithm.

Rationale:

The SHA-512 algorithm provides much stronger hashing than MD5, thus providing
additional protection to the system by increasing the level of effort for an attacker to
successfully determine passwords.

Note that these change only apply to accounts configured on the local system.

Audit:

Verify password hashing algorithm is sha512. This setting is commonly configured with the
pam_unix.so sha512 option found in /etc/pam.d/common-password or
/etc/pam.d/system-auth and /etc/pam.d/password-auth . Example:

password required pam_unix.so sha512

Remediation:

Set password hashing algorithm to sha512. Many distributions provide tools for updating
PAM configuration, consult your documentation for details. If no tooling is provided edit
the appropriate /etc/pam.d/ configuration file and add or modify the pam_unix.so lines to
include the sha512 option:

password required pam_unix.so sha512

Additional Information:

Consult your documentation for the appropriate PAM file and module.

Additional module options may be set, recommendation only covers those listed here.

If it is determined that the password algorithm being used is not SHA-512, once it is
changed, it is recommended that all user ID's be immediately expired and forced to change

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their passwords on next login. To accomplish that, the following commands can be used.
Any system accounts that need to be expired should be carefully done separately by the
system administrator to prevent any potential problems.

# cat /etc/passwd | awk -F: '( $3 >= 500 && $1 != "nfsnobody" ) { print $1 }'
| xargs -n 1 chage -d 0

This command assumes a system UID split at 500. Some distributions split at UID 1000
instead, consult your documentation and/or the UID_MIN setting in /etc/login.defs to
determine which is appropriate for you.

CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

3.11 Encrypt Sensitive Data at Rest

Encrypt sensitive data at rest on servers, applications, and databases containing
v8 sensitive data. Storage-layer encryption, also known as server-side encryption, meets
the minimum requirement of this Safeguard. Additional encryption methods may
● ●
include application-layer encryption, also known as client-side encryption, where
access to the data storage device(s) does not permit access to the plain-text data.

16.4 Encrypt or Hash all Authentication Credentials

v7
Encrypt or hash with a salt all authentication credentials when stored.
● ●

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5.3 User Accounts and Environment
This section provides guidance on setting up secure defaults for system and user accounts
and their environment.

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5.3.1 Set Shadow Password Suite Parameters
While a majority of the password control parameters have been moved to PAM, some
parameters are still available through the shadow password suite. Any changes made to
/etc/login.defs will only be applied if the usermod command is used. If user IDs are
added a different way, use the chage command to effect changes to individual user IDs.

Note: /etc is stateless on Container-Optimized OS. Therefore, /etc cannot be used to make
configuration changes persistent across reboots. After a reboot, configuration changes need
to be reapplied.

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5.3.1.1 Ensure password expiration is 365 days or less (Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 2 - Server

Description:

The PASS_MAX_DAYS parameter in /etc/login.defs allows an administrator to force

passwords to expire once they reach a defined age. It is recommended that the
PASS_MAX_DAYS parameter be set to less than or equal to 365 days.

Rationale:

The window of opportunity for an attacker to leverage compromised credentials or

successfully compromise credentials via an online brute force attack is limited by the age of
the password. Therefore, reducing the maximum age of a password also reduces an
attacker's window of opportunity.

Audit:

Run the following command and verify PASS_MAX_DAYS conforms to site policy (no more
than 365 days):

# grep PASS_MAX_DAYS /etc/login.defs

PASS_MAX_DAYS 365

Run the following command and Review list of users and PASS_MAX_DAYS to verify that all
users' PASS_MAX_DAYS conforms to site policy (no more than 365 days):

# grep -E '^[^:]+:[^!*]' /etc/shadow | cut -d: -f1,5

Remediation:

Set the PASS_MAX_DAYS parameter to conform to site policy in /etc/login.defs :

PASS_MAX_DAYS 365

Modify user parameters for all users with a password set to match:

# chage --maxdays 365 <user>

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Additional Information:

You can also check this setting in /etc/shadow directly. The 5th field should be 365 or less
for all users with a password.

Note: A value of -1 will disable password expiration. Additionally the password expiration
must be greater than the minimum days between password changes or users will be unable
to change their password.

CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

5.2 Use Unique Passwords

v8 Use unique passwords for all enterprise assets. Best practice implementation
includes, at a minimum, an 8-character password for accounts using MFA and a 14-
● ● ●
character password for accounts not using MFA.

4.4 Use Unique Passwords

v7 Where multi-factor authentication is not supported (such as local administrator, ● ●
root, or service accounts), accounts will use passwords that are unique to that system.

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5.3.1.2 Ensure minimum days between password changes is 7 or more
(Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 2 - Server

Description:

The PASS_MIN_DAYS parameter in /etc/login.defs allows an administrator to prevent

users from changing their password until a minimum number of days have passed since the
last time the user changed their password. It is recommended that PASS_MIN_DAYS
parameter be set to 7 or more days.

Rationale:

By restricting the frequency of password changes, an administrator can prevent users from
repeatedly changing their password in an attempt to circumvent password reuse controls.

Audit:

Run the following command and verify PASS_MIN_DAYS conforms to site policy (no less than
7 days):

# grep PASS_MIN_DAYS /etc/login.defs

PASS_MIN_DAYS 7

Run the following command and Review list of users and PAS_MIN_DAYS to Verify that all
users' PAS_MIN_DAYS conform s to site policy (no less than 7 days):

# grep -E ^[^:]+:[^\!*] /etc/shadow | cut -d: -f1,4

Remediation:

Set the PASS_MIN_DAYS parameter to 7 in /etc/login.defs :

PASS_MIN_DAYS 7

Modify user parameters for all users with a password set to match:

# chage --mindays 7 <user>

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Additional Information:

You can also check this setting in /etc/shadow directly. The 4th field should be 7 or more
for all users with a password.

CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

5.2 Use Unique Passwords

4.4 Use Unique Passwords

v7 Where multi-factor authentication is not supported (such as local administrator, ● ●
root, or service accounts), accounts will use passwords that are unique to that system.

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5.3.1.3 Ensure password expiration warning days is 7 or more
(Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 1 - Server

Description:

The PASS_WARN_AGE parameter in /etc/login.defs allows an administrator to notify users

that their password will expire in a defined number of days. It is recommended that the
PASS_WARN_AGE parameter be set to 7 or more days.

Rationale:

Providing an advance warning that a password will be expiring gives users time to think of
a secure password. Users caught unaware may choose a simple password or write it down
where it may be discovered.

Audit:

Run the following command and verify PASS_WARN_AGE conforms to site policy (No less than
7 days):

# grep PASS_WARN_AGE /etc/login.defs

PASS_WARN_AGE 7

Verify all users with a password have their number of days of warning before password
expires set to 7 or more:
Run the following command and Review list of users and PASS_WARN_AGE to verify that all
users' PASS_WARN_AGE conforms to site policy (No less than 7 days):

# grep -E ^[^:]+:[^\!*] /etc/shadow | cut -d: -f1,6

Remediation:

Set the PASS_WARN_AGE parameter to 7 in /etc/login.defs :

PASS_WARN_AGE 7

Modify user parameters for all users with a password set to match:

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# chage --warndays 7 <user>

Additional Information:

You can also check this setting in /etc/shadow directly. The 6th field should be 7 or more
for all users with a password.

CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

5.2 Use Unique Passwords

4.4 Use Unique Passwords

v7 Where multi-factor authentication is not supported (such as local administrator, ● ●
root, or service accounts), accounts will use passwords that are unique to that system.

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5.3.1.4 Ensure inactive password lock is 30 days or less (Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 2 - Server

Description:

User accounts that have been inactive for over a given period of time can be automatically
disabled. It is recommended that accounts that are inactive for 30 days after password
expiration be disabled.

Rationale:

Inactive accounts pose a threat to system security since the users are not logging in to
notice failed login attempts or other anomalies.

Audit:

Run the following command and verify INACTIVE conforms to sire policy (no more than 30
days):

# useradd -D | grep INACTIVE

INACTIVE=30

Verify all users with a password have Password inactive no more than 30 days after
password expires:
Run the following command and Review list of users and INACTIVE to verify that all users'
INACTIVE conforms to site policy (no more than 30 days):

# grep -E ^[^:]+:[^\!*] /etc/shadow | cut -d: -f1,7

Remediation:

Run the following command to set the default password inactivity period to 30 days:

# useradd -D -f 30

Modify user parameters for all users with a password set to match:

# chage --inactive 30 <user>

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Additional Information:

You can also check this setting in /etc/shadow directly. The 7th field should be 30 or less
for all users with a password.

Note: A value of -1 would disable this setting.

CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

5.2 Use Unique Passwords

4.4 Use Unique Passwords

v7 Where multi-factor authentication is not supported (such as local administrator, ● ●
root, or service accounts), accounts will use passwords that are unique to that system.

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5.3.1.5 Ensure all users last password change date is in the past
(Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 1 - Server

Description:

All users should have a password change date in the past.

Rationale:

If a users recorded password change date is in the future then they could bypass any set
password expiration.

Audit:

Run the following command and verify nothing is returned

# for usr in $(cut -d: -f1 /etc/shadow); do [[ $(chage --list $usr | grep
'^Last password change' | cut -d: -f2) > $(date) ]] && echo "$usr :$(chage --
list $usr | grep '^Last password change' | cut -d: -f2)"; done

Remediation:

Investigate any users with a password change date in the future and correct them. Locking
the account, expiring the password, or resetting the password manually may be
appropriate.

CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

5.2 Use Unique Passwords

4.4 Use Unique Passwords

v7 Where multi-factor authentication is not supported (such as local administrator, ● ●
root, or service accounts), accounts will use passwords that are unique to that system.

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5.3.2 Ensure system accounts are secured (Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 2 - Server

Description:

There are a number of accounts provided with most distributions that are used to manage
applications and are not intended to provide an interactive shell.

Rationale:

It is important to make sure that accounts that are not being used by regular users are
prevented from being used to provide an interactive shell. By default, most distributions
set the password field for these accounts to an invalid string, but it is also recommended
that the shell field in the password file be set to the nologin shell. This prevents the
account from potentially being used to run any commands.

Audit:

Run the following commands and verify no results are returned:

awk -F: '($1!="root" && $1!="sync" && $1!="shutdown" && $1!="halt" &&
$1!~/^\+/ && $3<'"$(awk '/^\s*UID_MIN/{print $2}' /etc/login.defs)"' &&
$7!="'"$(which nologin)"'" && $7!="/bin/false") {print}' /etc/passwd

awk -F: '($1!="root" && $1!~/^\+/ && $3<'"$(awk '/^\s*UID_MIN/{print $2}'

/etc/login.defs)"') {print $1}' /etc/passwd | xargs -I '{}' passwd -S '{}' |
awk '($2!="L" && $2!="LK") {print $1}'

Remediation:

Run the commands appropriate for your distribution:

Set the shell for any accounts returned by the audit to nologin:

# usermod -s $(which nologin) <user>

Lock any non root accounts returned by the audit:

# usermod -L <user>

The following command will set all system accounts to a non login shell:

awk -F: '($1!="root" && $1!="sync" && $1!="shutdown" && $1!="halt" &&
$1!~/^\+/ && $3<'"$(awk '/^\s*UID_MIN/{print $2}' /etc/login.defs)"' &&

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$7!="'"$(which nologin)"'" && $7!="/bin/false") {print $1}' /etc/passwd |
while read user do usermod -s $(which nologin) $user done

The following command will automatically lock not root system accounts:

awk -F: '($1!="root" && $1!~/^\+/ && $3<'"$(awk '/^\s*UID_MIN/{print $2}'

/etc/login.defs)"') {print $1}' /etc/passwd | xargs -I '{}' passwd -S '{}' |
awk '($2!="L" && $2!="LK") {print $1}' | while read user do usermod -L $user
done

Additional Information:

The root, sync, shutdown, and halt users are exempted from requiring a non-login shell.

CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

6.1 Establish an Access Granting Process

v8 Establish and follow a process, preferably automated, for granting access to ● ● ●
enterprise assets upon new hire, rights grant, or role change of a user.

v7 16 Account Monitoring and Control

Account Monitoring and Control

200 | P a g e
5.3.3 Ensure default group for the root account is GID 0 (Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 1 - Server

Description:

The usermod command can be used to specify which group the root user belongs to. This
affects permissions of files that are created by the root user.

Rationale:

Using GID 0 for the root account helps prevent root -owned files from accidentally
becoming accessible to non-privileged users.

Audit:

Run the following command and verify the result is 0 :

# grep "^root:" /etc/passwd | cut -f4 -d:

Remediation:

Run the following command to set the root user default group to GID 0 :

# usermod -g 0 root

CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

3.3 Configure Data Access Control Lists

5.1 Establish Secure Configurations

v7 Maintain documented, standard security configuration standards for all ● ● ●
authorized operating systems and software.

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5.3.4 Ensure default user umask is 027 or more restrictive (Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 2 - Server

Description:

The default umask determines the permissions of files created by users. The user creating
the file has the discretion of making their files and directories readable by others via the
chmod command. Users who wish to allow their files and directories to be readable by
others by default may choose a different default umask by inserting the umask command
into the standard shell configuration files ( .profile , .bashrc , etc.) in their home
directories.

Rationale:

Setting a very secure default value for umask ensures that users make a conscious choice
about their file permissions. A default umask setting of 077 causes files and directories
created by users to not be readable by any other user on the system. A umask of 027 would
make files and directories readable by users in the same Unix group, while a umask of 022
would make files readable by every user on the system.

Audit:

Run the following commands and verify all umask lines returned are 027 or more
restrictive.

# grep "umask" /etc/bash/bashrc

umask 027
# grep "umask" /etc/profile /etc/profile.d/*.sh
umask 027

Remediation:

Edit the /etc/bash/bashrc, /etc/profile and /etc/profile.d/*.sh files (and the

appropriate files for any other shell supported on your system) and add or edit any umask
parameters as follows:

umask 027

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Additional Information:

The audit and remediation in this recommendation apply to bash and shell. If other shells
are supported on the system, it is recommended that their configuration files also are
checked.

Other methods of setting a default user umask exist however the shell configuration files
are the last run and will override other settings if they exist therefor our recommendation
is to configure in the shell configuration files. If other methods are in use in your
environment they should be audited and the shell configs should be verified to not
override.

CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

3.3 Configure Data Access Control Lists

5.1 Establish Secure Configurations

v7 Maintain documented, standard security configuration standards for all ● ● ●
authorized operating systems and software.

v7 13 Data Protection
Data Protection

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5.3.5 Ensure default user shell timeout is 900 seconds or less
(Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 2 - Server

Description:

The default TMOUT determines the shell timeout for users. The TMOUT value is measured in
seconds.

Rationale:

Having no timeout value associated with a shell could allow an unauthorized user access to
another user's shell session (e.g. user walks away from their computer and doesn't lock the
screen). Setting a timeout value at least reduces the risk of this happening.

Audit:

Run the following commands and verify all TMOUT lines returned are 900 or less and at
least one exists in each file.

# grep "^TMOUT" /etc/bash/bashrc

TMOUT=900

# grep "^TMOUT" /etc/profile

TMOUT=900

Remediation:

Edit the /etc/bash/bashrc and /etc/profile files (and the appropriate files for any other
shell supported on your system) and add or edit any umask parameters as follows:

TMOUT=900

Additional Information:

The audit and remediation in this recommendation apply to bash and shell. If other shells
are supported on the system, it is recommended that their configuration files also are
checked. Other methods of setting a timeout exist for other shells not covered here.

Ensure that the timeout conforms to your local policy.

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CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

4.3 Configure Automatic Session Locking on Enterprise

16.11 Lock Workstation Sessions After Inactivity

v7
Automatically lock workstation sessions after a standard period of inactivity.
● ● ●

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5.4 Ensure root login is restricted to system console (Manual)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 1 - Server

Description:

The file /etc/securetty contains a list of valid terminals that may be logged in directly as
root.

Rationale:

Since the system console has special properties to handle emergency situations, it is
important to ensure that the console is in a physically secure location and that
unauthorized consoles have not been defined.

Audit:

# cat /etc/securetty

Remediation:

Remove entries for any consoles that are not in a physically secure location.

CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

5.4 Restrict Administrator Privileges to Dedicated

5.1 Establish Secure Configurations

v7 Maintain documented, standard security configuration standards for all authorized ● ● ●
operating systems and software.

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5.5 Ensure access to the su command is restricted (Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 1 - Server

Description:

The su command allows a user to run a command or shell as another user. The program
has been superseded by sudo , which allows for more granular control over privileged
access. Normally, the su command can be executed by any user. By uncommenting the
pam_wheel.so statement in /etc/pam.d/su , the su command will only allow users in the
wheel group to execute su .

Rationale:

Restricting the use of su , and using sudo in its place, provides system administrators better
control of the escalation of user privileges to execute privileged commands. The sudo utility
also provides a better logging and audit mechanism, as it can log each command executed
via sudo , whereas su can only record that a user executed the su program.

Audit:

Run the following command and verify output includes matching line:

# grep pam_wheel.so /etc/pam.d/su

auth required pam_wheel.so use_uid

Run the following command and verify users in wheel group match site policy:

# grep wheel /etc/group

wheel:!:10:root,<user list>

Remediation:

Add the following line to the /etc/pam.d/su file:

auth required pam_wheel.so use_uid

Create a comma separated list of users in the wheel statement in the /etc/group file:

wheel:!:10:root,<user list>

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/etc is stateless on Container-Optimized OS. Therefore, /etc cannot be used to make these
changes persistent across reboots. The steps mentioned above needs to be performed after
every boot.

CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

3.3 Configure Data Access Control Lists

5.1 Establish Secure Configurations

v7 Maintain documented, standard security configuration standards for all ● ● ●
authorized operating systems and software.

208 | P a g e
6 System Maintenance
Recommendations in this section are intended as maintenance and are intended to be
checked on a frequent basis to ensure system stability. Many recommendations do not have
quick remediations and require investigation into the cause and best fix available and may
indicate an attempted breach of system security.

Note: /etc is stateless on Container-Optimized OS. Therefore, /etc cannot be used to make
configuration changes persistent across reboots. After a reboot, configuration changes need
to be reapplied.

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6.1 System File Permissions
This section provides guidance on securing aspects of system files and directories.

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6.1.1 Ensure permissions on /etc/passwd are configured (Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 1 - Server

Description:

The /etc/passwd file contains user account information that is used by many system
utilities and therefore must be readable for these utilities to operate.

Rationale:

It is critical to ensure that the /etc/passwd file is protected from unauthorized write
access. Although it is protected by default, the file permissions could be changed either
inadvertently or through malicious actions.

Audit:

Run the following command and verify Uid and Gid are both 0/root and Access is 644 :

# stat /etc/passwd
Access: (0644/-rw-r--r--) Uid: ( 0/ root) Gid: ( 0/ root)

Remediation:

Run the following command to set permissions on /etc/passwd :

# chown root:root /etc/passwd

# chmod 644 /etc/passwd

CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

3.3 Configure Data Access Control Lists

16.4 Encrypt or Hash all Authentication Credentials

v7
Encrypt or hash with a salt all authentication credentials when stored.
● ●

211 | P a g e
6.1.2 Ensure permissions on /etc/shadow are configured (Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 1 - Server

Description:

The /etc/shadow file is used to store the information about user accounts that is critical to
the security of those accounts, such as the hashed password and other security
information.

Rationale:

If attackers can gain read access to the /etc/shadow file, they can easily run a password
cracking program against the hashed password to break it. Other security information that
is stored in the /etc/shadow file (such as expiration) could also be useful to subvert the
user accounts.

Audit:

Run the following command and verify verify Uid is 0/root, Gid is 0/root or
<gid>/shadow, and Access is 640 or more restrictive:

# stat /etc/shadow
Access: (0640/-rw-r-----) Uid: ( 0/ root) Gid: ( 0/ root)

Remediation:

Run the one of the following chown commands as appropriate and the chmod to set
permissions on /etc/shadow :

# chown root:root /etc/shadow

# chown root:shadow /etc/shadow

# chmod o-rwx,g-wx /etc/shadow

CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

v8 3.3 Configure Data Access Control Lists ● ● ●

Configure data access control lists based on a user’s need to know. Apply data

212 | P a g e
Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

access control lists, also known as access permissions, to local and remote file
systems, databases, and applications.

16.4 Encrypt or Hash all Authentication Credentials

v7
Encrypt or hash with a salt all authentication credentials when stored.
● ●

213 | P a g e
6.1.3 Ensure permissions on /etc/group are configured (Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 1 - Server

Description:

The /etc/group file contains a list of all the valid groups defined in the system. The
command below allows read/write access for root and read access for everyone else.

Rationale:

The /etc/group file needs to be protected from unauthorized changes by non-privileged

users, but needs to be readable as this information is used with many non-privileged
programs.

Audit:

Run the following command and verify Uid and Gid are both 0/root and Access is 644 :

# stat /etc/group
Access: (0644/-rw-r--r--) Uid: ( 0/ root) Gid: ( 0/ root)

Remediation:

Run the following command to set permissions on /etc/group :

# chown root:root /etc/group

# chmod 644 /etc/group

CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

3.3 Configure Data Access Control Lists

16.4 Encrypt or Hash all Authentication Credentials

v7
Encrypt or hash with a salt all authentication credentials when stored.
● ●

214 | P a g e
6.1.4 Ensure permissions on /etc/gshadow are configured (Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 1 - Server

Description:

The /etc/gshadow file is used to store the information about groups that is critical to the
security of those accounts, such as the hashed password and other security information.

Rationale:

If attackers can gain read access to the /etc/gshadow file, they can easily run a password
cracking program against the hashed password to break it. Other security information that
is stored in the /etc/gshadow file (such as group administrators) could also be useful to
subvert the group.

Audit:

Run the following command and verify Uid is 0/root, Gid is 0/root or <gid>/shadow, and
Access is 640 or more restrictive:

# stat /etc/gshadow
Access: (0640/-rw-r-----) Uid: ( 0/ root) Gid: ( 0/ root)

Remediation:

Run the one of the following chown commands as appropriate and the chmod to set
permissions on /etc/gshadow :

# chown root:root /etc/gshadow

# chown root:shadow /etc/gshadow

# chmod o-rwx,g-rw /etc/gshadow

CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

3.3 Configure Data Access Control Lists

215 | P a g e
Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

16.4 Encrypt or Hash all Authentication Credentials

v7
Encrypt or hash with a salt all authentication credentials when stored.
● ●

216 | P a g e
6.1.5 Ensure permissions on /etc/passwd- are configured (Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 2 - Server

Description:

The /etc/passwd- file contains backup user account information.

Rationale:

It is critical to ensure that the /etc/passwd- file is protected from unauthorized access.
Although it is protected by default, the file permissions could be changed either
inadvertently or through malicious actions.

Audit:

Run the following command and verify Uid and Gid are both 0/root and Access is 644 or
more restrictive:

# stat /etc/passwd-
Access: (0644/-rw-r--r--) Uid: ( 0/ root) Gid: ( 0/ root)

Remediation:

Run the following command to set permissions on /etc/passwd- :

# chown root:root /etc/passwd-

# chmod u-x,go-wx /etc/passwd-

CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

3.3 Configure Data Access Control Lists

16.4 Encrypt or Hash all Authentication Credentials

v7
Encrypt or hash with a salt all authentication credentials when stored.
● ●

217 | P a g e
6.1.6 Ensure permissions on /etc/shadow- are configured (Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 2 - Server

Description:

The /etc/shadow- file is used to store backup information about user accounts that is
critical to the security of those accounts, such as the hashed password and other security
information.

Rationale:

It is critical to ensure that the /etc/shadow- file is protected from unauthorized access.
Although it is protected by default, the file permissions could be changed either
inadvertently or through malicious actions.

Audit:

Run the following command and verify verify Uid is 0/root, Gid is 0/root or
<gid>/shadow, and Access is 640 or more restrictive:

# stat /etc/shadow-
Access: (0640/-rw-r-----) Uid: ( 0/ root) Gid: ( 0/ root)

Remediation:

Run the one of the following chown commands as appropriate and the chmod to set
permissions on /etc/shadow- :

# chown root:root /etc/shadow-

# chown root:shadow /etc/shadow-

# chmod o-rwx,g-rw /etc/shadow-

CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

3.3 Configure Data Access Control Lists

218 | P a g e
Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

16.4 Encrypt or Hash all Authentication Credentials

v7
Encrypt or hash with a salt all authentication credentials when stored.
● ●

219 | P a g e
6.1.7 Ensure permissions on /etc/group- are configured (Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 1 - Server

Description:

The /etc/group- file contains a backup list of all the valid groups defined in the system.

Rationale:

It is critical to ensure that the /etc/group- file is protected from unauthorized access.
Although it is protected by default, the file permissions could be changed either
inadvertently or through malicious actions.

Audit:

Run the following command and verify Uid and Gid are both 0/root and Access is 644 or
more restrictive:

# stat /etc/group-
Access: (0644/-rw-------) Uid: ( 0/ root) Gid: ( 0/ root)

Remediation:

Run the following command to set permissions on /etc/group- :

# chown root:root /etc/group-

# chmod u-x,go-wx /etc/group-

CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

3.3 Configure Data Access Control Lists

16.4 Encrypt or Hash all Authentication Credentials

v7
Encrypt or hash with a salt all authentication credentials when stored.
● ●

220 | P a g e
6.1.8 Ensure permissions on /etc/gshadow- are configured (Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 2 - Server

Description:

The /etc/gshadow- file is used to store backup information about groups that is critical to
the security of those accounts, such as the hashed password and other security
information.

Rationale:

It is critical to ensure that the /etc/gshadow- file is protected from unauthorized access.
Although it is protected by default, the file permissions could be changed either
inadvertently or through malicious actions.

Audit:

Run the following command and verify verify Uid is 0/root, Gid is 0/root or
<gid>/shadow, and Access is 640 or more restrictive:

# stat /etc/gshadow-
Access: (0640/-rw-r-----) Uid: ( 0/ root) Gid: ( 0/ root)

Remediation:

Run the one of the following chown commands as appropriate and the chmod to set
permissions on /etc/gshadow- :

# chown root:root /etc/gshadow-

# chown root:shadow /etc/gshadow-

# chmod o-rwx,g-rw /etc/gshadow-

CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

3.3 Configure Data Access Control Lists

221 | P a g e
Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

16.4 Encrypt or Hash all Authentication Credentials

v7
Encrypt or hash with a salt all authentication credentials when stored.
● ●

222 | P a g e
6.2 User and Group Settings
This section provides guidance on securing aspects of the users and groups.

Note: The recommendations in this section check local users and groups. Any users or
groups from other sources such as LDAP will not be audited. In a domain environment
similar checks should be performed against domain users and groups.

223 | P a g e
6.2.1 Ensure password fields are not empty (Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 1 - Server

Description:

An account with an empty password field means that anybody may log in as that user
without providing a password.

Rationale:

All accounts must have passwords or be locked to prevent the account from being used by
an unauthorized user.

Audit:

Run the following command and verify that no output is returned:

# awk -F: '($2 == "" ) { print $1 " does not have a password "}' /etc/shadow

Remediation:

If any accounts in the /etc/shadow file do not have a password, run the following command
to lock the account until it can be determined why it does not have a password:

# passwd -l <username>

Also, check to see if the account is logged in and investigate what it is being used for to
determine if it needs to be forced off.

CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

5.2 Use Unique Passwords

4.4 Use Unique Passwords

v7 Where multi-factor authentication is not supported (such as local administrator, ● ●
root, or service accounts), accounts will use passwords that are unique to that system.

224 | P a g e
6.2.2 Ensure no legacy "+" entries exist in /etc/passwd (Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 1 - Server

Description:

The character + in various files used to be markers for systems to insert data from NIS
maps at a certain point in a system configuration file. These entries are no longer required
on most systems, but may exist in files that have been imported from other platforms.

Rationale:

These entries may provide an avenue for attackers to gain privileged access on the system.

Audit:

Run the following command and verify that no output is returned:

# grep '^\+:' /etc/passwd

Remediation:

Remove any legacy '+' entries from /etc/passwd if they exist.

CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

5.6 Centralize Account Management

v8
Centralize account management through a directory or identity service.
● ●

16.2 Configure Centralized Point of Authentication

v7 Configure access for all accounts through as few centralized points of ● ●
authentication as possible, including network, security, and cloud systems.

225 | P a g e
6.2.3 Ensure no legacy "+" entries exist in /etc/shadow (Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 1 - Server

Description:

Rationale:

These entries may provide an avenue for attackers to gain privileged access on the system.

Audit:

Run the following command and verify that no output is returned:

# grep '^\+:' /etc/shadow

Remediation:

Remove any legacy '+' entries from /etc/shadow if they exist.

CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

5.6 Centralize Account Management

v8
Centralize account management through a directory or identity service.
● ●

16.2 Configure Centralized Point of Authentication

v7 Configure access for all accounts through as few centralized points of ● ●
authentication as possible, including network, security, and cloud systems.

226 | P a g e
6.2.4 Ensure no legacy "+" entries exist in /etc/group (Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 1 - Server

Description:

Rationale:

These entries may provide an avenue for attackers to gain privileged access on the system.

Audit:

Run the following command and verify that no output is returned:

# grep '^\+:' /etc/group

Remediation:

Remove any legacy '+' entries from /etc/group if they exist.

CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

5.6 Centralize Account Management

v8
Centralize account management through a directory or identity service.
● ●

16.2 Configure Centralized Point of Authentication

v7 Configure access for all accounts through as few centralized points of ● ●
authentication as possible, including network, security, and cloud systems.

227 | P a g e
6.2.5 Ensure root is the only UID 0 account (Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 1 - Server

Description:

Any account with UID 0 has superuser privileges on the system.

Rationale:

This access must be limited to only the default root account and only from the system
console. Administrative access must be through an unprivileged account using an approved
mechanism as noted in Item 5.6 Ensure access to the su command is restricted.

Audit:

Run the following command and verify that only "root" is returned:

# awk -F: '($3 == 0) { print $1 }' /etc/passwd

root

Remediation:

Remove any users other than root with UID 0 or assign them a new UID if appropriate.

CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

3.3 Configure Data Access Control Lists

5.1 Establish Secure Configurations

v7 Maintain documented, standard security configuration standards for all ● ● ●
authorized operating systems and software.

228 | P a g e
6.2.6 Ensure root PATH Integrity (Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 2 - Server

Description:

The root user can execute any command on the system and could be fooled into executing
programs unintentionally if the PATH is not set correctly.

Rationale:

Including the current working directory (.) or other writable directory in root 's executable
path makes it likely that an attacker can gain superuser access by forcing an administrator
operating as root to execute a Trojan horse program.

Audit:

Run the following script and verify no results are returned:

#!/bin/bash

PATH="$(sudo -Hiu root env | grep '^PATH' | cut -d= -f2)"

echo "$PATH" | grep -q "::" && echo "Empty directory in PATH (::)"
echo "$PATH" | grep -q ":$" && echo "Trailing : in PATH"
for dir in $(echo "$PATH" | tr ":" " "); do
if [ -d "$dir" ]; then
ls -ldH "$dir" | awk 'substr($1,6,1) != "-" {print $9, "is group
writable"}
substr($1,9,1) != "-" {print $9, "is world writable"}
$3 != "root" {print $9, "is not owned by root"}'
else
base_dir=$(echo "$dir" | cut -d "/" -f2)
# Ignore if directory is on read-only partition
rw=$(findmnt -T "/$base_dir" | sed '1d' | grep -v "\sro,")
if [ -n "$rw" ]; then
echo "$dir is not a directory"
fi
fi
done

Remediation:

Correct or justify any items discovered in the Audit step.

229 | P a g e
CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

5.1 Establish Secure Configurations

v7 Maintain documented, standard security configuration standards for all ● ● ●
authorized operating systems and software.

230 | P a g e
6.2.7 Ensure all users' home directories exist (Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 2 - Server

Description:

Users can be defined in /etc/passwd without a home directory or with a home directory
that does not actually exist.

Rationale:

If the user's home directory does not exist or is unassigned, the user will be placed in "/"
and will not be able to write any files or have local environment variables set.

Audit:

Run the following script and verify no results are returned:

#!/bin/bash
grep -E -v '^(halt|sync|shutdown)' /etc/passwd | awk -F: '($7 != "'"$(which
nologin)"'" && $7 != "/bin/false") { print $1 " " $6 }' | while read -r user
dir; do
if [ ! -d "$dir" ]; then
echo "The home directory ($dir) of user $user does not exist."
fi
done

Remediation:

If any users' home directories do not exist, create them and make sure the respective user
owns the directory. Users without an assigned home directory should be removed or
assigned a home directory as appropriate.

Additional Information:

The audit script checks all users UID 500 and above except nfsnobody. Some distributions
split at UID 1000 instead, consult your documentation and/or the UID_MIN setting in
/etc/login.defs to determine which is appropriate for you.

On some distributions the /sbin/nologin should be replaced with /usr/sbin/nologin.

231 | P a g e
CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

5.1 Establish Secure Configurations

v7 Maintain documented, standard security configuration standards for all ● ● ●
authorized operating systems and software.

232 | P a g e
6.2.8 Ensure users' home directories permissions are 750 or more
restrictive (Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 2 - Server

Description:

While the system administrator can establish secure permissions for users' home
directories, the users can easily override these.

Rationale:

Group or world-writable user home directories may enable malicious users to steal or
modify other users' data or to gain another user's system privileges.

Audit:

Run the following script and verify no results are returned:

#!/bin/bash
grep -E -v '^(halt|sync|shutdown)' /etc/passwd | awk -F: '($7 != "'"$(which
nologin)"'" && $7 != "/bin/false") { print $1 " " $6 }' | while read user
dir; do
if [ ! -d "$dir" ]; then
echo "The home directory ($dir) of user $user does not exist."
else
dirperm=$(ls -ld $dir | cut -f1 -d" ")
if [ $(echo $dirperm | cut -c6) != "-" ]; then
echo "Group Write permission set on the home directory ($dir) of user
$user"
fi
if [ $(echo $dirperm | cut -c8) != "-" ]; then
echo "Other Read permission set on the home directory ($dir) of user
$user"
fi
if [ $(echo $dirperm | cut -c9) != "-" ]; then
echo "Other Write permission set on the home directory ($dir) of user
$user"
fi
if [ $(echo $dirperm | cut -c10) != "-" ]; then
echo "Other Execute permission set on the home directory ($dir) of user
$user"
fi
fi
done

233 | P a g e
Remediation:

Making global modifications to user home directories without alerting the user community
can result in unexpected outages and unhappy users. Therefore, it is recommended that a
monitoring policy be established to report user file permissions and determine the action
to be taken in accordance with site policy.

Additional Information:

On some distributions the /sbin/nologin should be replaced with /usr/sbin/nologin.

CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

3.3 Configure Data Access Control Lists

14.6 Protect Information through Access Control Lists

234 | P a g e
6.2.9 Ensure users own their home directories (Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 2 - Server

Description:

The user home directory is space defined for the particular user to set local environment
variables and to store personal files.

Rationale:

Since the user is accountable for files stored in the user home directory, the user must be
the owner of the directory.

Audit:

Run the following script and verify no results are returned:

#!/bin/bash

grep -E -v '^(halt|sync|shutdown)' /etc/passwd | awk -F: '($7 != "'"$(which

nologin)"'" && $7 != "/bin/false") { print $1 " " $6 }' | while read user
dir; do
if [ ! -d "$dir" ]; then
echo "The home directory ($dir) of user $user does not exist."
else
owner=$(stat -L -c "%U" "$dir")
if [ "$owner" != "$user" ]; then
echo "The home directory ($dir) of user $user is owned by $owner."
fi
fi
done

Remediation:

Change the ownership of any home directories that are not owned by the defined user to
the correct user.

Additional Information:

On some distributions the /sbin/nologin should be replaced with /usr/sbin/nologin.

235 | P a g e
CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

3.3 Configure Data Access Control Lists

14.6 Protect Information through Access Control Lists

236 | P a g e
6.2.10 Ensure users' dot files are not group or world writable
(Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 2 - Server

Description:

While the system administrator can establish secure permissions for users' "dot" files, the
users can easily override these.

Rationale:

Group or world-writable user configuration files may enable malicious users to steal or
modify other users' data or to gain another user's system privileges.

Audit:

Run the following script and verify no results are returned:

#!/bin/bash

grep -E -v '^(halt|sync|shutdown)' /etc/passwd | awk -F: '($7 != "'"$(which

nologin)"'" && $7 != "/bin/false") { print $1 " " $6 }' | while read user
dir; do
if [ ! -d "$dir" ]; then
echo "The home directory ($dir) of user $user does not exist."
else
for file in $dir/.[A-Za-z0-9]*; do
if [ ! -h "$file" -a -f "$file" ]; then
fileperm=$(ls -ld $file | cut -f1 -d" ")

if [ $(echo $fileperm | cut -c6) != "-" ]; then

echo "Group Write permission set on file $file"
fi
if [ $(echo $fileperm | cut -c9) != "-" ]; then
echo "Other Write permission set on file $file"
fi
fi
done
fi
done

Remediation:

Making global modifications to users' files without alerting the user community can result
in unexpected outages and unhappy users. Therefore, it is recommended that a monitoring

237 | P a g e
policy be established to report user dot file permissions and determine the action to be
taken in accordance with site policy.

Additional Information:

On some distributions the /sbin/nologin should be replaced with /usr/sbin/nologin.

CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

3.3 Configure Data Access Control Lists

14.6 Protect Information through Access Control Lists

238 | P a g e
6.2.11 Ensure no users have .forward files (Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 2 - Server

Description:

The .forward file specifies an email address to forward the user's mail to.

Rationale:

Use of the .forward file poses a security risk in that sensitive data may be inadvertently
transferred outside the organization. The .forward file also poses a risk as it can be used to
execute commands that may perform unintended actions.

Audit:

Run the following script and verify no results are returned:

#!/bin/bash

grep -E -v '^(root|halt|sync|shutdown)' /etc/passwd | awk -F: '($7 !=

"'"$(which nologin)"'" && $7 != "/bin/false") { print $1 " " $6 }' | while
read user dir; do
if [ ! -d "$dir" ]; then
echo "The home directory ($dir) of user $user does not exist."
else
if [ ! -h "$dir/.forward" -a -f "$dir/.forward" ]; then
echo ".forward file $dir/.forward exists"
fi
fi
done

Remediation:

Making global modifications to users' files without alerting the user community can result
in unexpected outages and unhappy users. Therefore, it is recommended that a monitoring
policy be established to report user .forward files and determine the action to be taken in
accordance with site policy.

Additional Information:

On some distributions the /sbin/nologin should be replaced with /usr/sbin/nologin.

239 | P a g e
CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

4.1 Establish and Maintain a Secure Configuration Process

5.1 Establish Secure Configurations

v7 Maintain documented, standard security configuration standards for all authorized ● ● ●
operating systems and software.

240 | P a g e
6.2.12 Ensure no users have .netrc files (Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 2 - Server

Description:

The .netrc file contains data for logging into a remote host for file transfers via FTP.

Rationale:

The .netrc file presents a significant security risk since it stores passwords in unencrypted
form. Even if FTP is disabled, user accounts may have brought over .netrc files from other
systems which could pose a risk to those systems.

Audit:

Run the following script and verify no results are returned:

#!/bin/bash

grep -E -v '^(root|halt|sync|shutdown)' /etc/passwd | awk -F: '($7 !=

"'"$(which nologin)"'" && $7 != "/bin/false") { print $1 " " $6 }' | while
read user dir; do
if [ ! -d "$dir" ]; then
echo "The home directory ($dir) of user $user does not exist."
else
if [ ! -h "$dir/.netrc" -a -f "$dir/.netrc" ]; then
echo ".netrc file $dir/.netrc exists"
fi
fi
done

Remediation:

Making global modifications to users' files without alerting the user community can result
in unexpected outages and unhappy users. Therefore, it is recommended that a monitoring
policy be established to report user .netrc files and determine the action to be taken in
accordance with site policy.

Additional Information:

On some distributions the /sbin/nologin should be replaced with /usr/sbin/nologin.

241 | P a g e
CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

3.11 Encrypt Sensitive Data at Rest

16.4 Encrypt or Hash all Authentication Credentials

v7
Encrypt or hash with a salt all authentication credentials when stored.
● ●

242 | P a g e
6.2.13 Ensure users' .netrc Files are not group or world accessible
(Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 2 - Server

Description:

While the system administrator can establish secure permissions for users' .netrc files, the
users can easily override these.

Rationale:

.netrc files may contain unencrypted passwords that may be used to attack other
systems.

Audit:

Run the following script and verify no results are returned:

#!/bin/bash

grep -E -v '^(root|halt|sync|shutdown)' /etc/passwd | awk -F: '($7 !=

"'"$(which nologin)"'" && $7 != "/bin/false") { print $1 " " $6 }' | while
read user dir; do
if [ ! -d "$dir" ]; then
echo "The home directory ($dir) of user $user does not exist."
else
for file in $dir/.netrc; do
if [ ! -h "$file" -a -f "$file" ]; then
fileperm=$(ls -ld $file | cut -f1 -d" ")
if [ $(echo $fileperm | cut -c5) != "-" ]; then
echo "Group Read set on $file"
fi
if [ $(echo $fileperm | cut -c6) != "-" ]; then
echo "Group Write set on $file"
fi
if [ $(echo $fileperm | cut -c7) != "-" ]; then
echo "Group Execute set on $file"
fi
if [ $(echo $fileperm | cut -c8) != "-" ]; then
echo "Other Read set on $file"
fi
if [ $(echo $fileperm | cut -c9) != "-" ]; then
echo "Other Write set on $file"
fi
if [ $(echo $fileperm | cut -c10) != "-" ]; then
echo "Other Execute set on $file"
fi

243 | P a g e
fi
done
fi
done

Remediation:

Making global modifications to users' files without alerting the user community can result
in unexpected outages and unhappy users. Therefore, it is recommended that a monitoring
policy be established to report user .netrc file permissions and determine the action to be
taken in accordance with site policy.

Additional Information:

While the complete removal of .netrc files is recommended if any are required on the
system secure permissions must be applied.

On some distributions the /sbin/nologin should be replaced with /usr/sbin/nologin.

CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

3.3 Configure Data Access Control Lists

14.6 Protect Information through Access Control Lists

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6.2.14 Ensure no users have .rhosts files (Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 2 - Server

Description:

While no .rhosts files are shipped by default, users can easily create them.

Rationale:

This action is only meaningful if .rhosts support is permitted in the file /etc/pam.conf .
Even though the .rhosts files are ineffective if support is disabled in /etc/pam.conf , they
may have been brought over from other systems and could contain information useful to
an attacker for those other systems.

Audit:

Run the following script and verify no results are returned:

#!/bin/bash

grep -E -v '^(root|halt|sync|shutdown)' /etc/passwd | awk -F: '($7 !=

Remediation:

Making global modifications to users' files without alerting the user community can result
in unexpected outages and unhappy users. Therefore, it is recommended that a monitoring
policy be established to report user .rhosts files and determine the action to be taken in
accordance with site policy.

Additional Information:

On some distributions the /sbin/nologin should be replaced with /usr/sbin/nologin.

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CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

3.11 Encrypt Sensitive Data at Rest

16.4 Encrypt or Hash all Authentication Credentials

v7
Encrypt or hash with a salt all authentication credentials when stored.
● ●

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6.2.15 Ensure all groups in /etc/passwd exist in /etc/group (Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 2 - Server

Description:

Over time, system administration errors and changes can lead to groups being defined in
/etc/passwd but not in /etc/group .

Rationale:

Groups defined in the /etc/passwd file but not in the /etc/group file pose a threat to
system security since group permissions are not properly managed.

Audit:

Run the following script and verify no results are returned:

#!/bin/bash

for i in $(cut -s -d: -f4 /etc/passwd | sort -u ); do

grep -q ":$i:" /etc/group
if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
echo "Group $i is referenced by /etc/passwd but does not exist in
/etc/group"
fi
done

Remediation:

Analyze the output of the Audit step above and perform the appropriate action to correct
any discrepancies found.

CIS Controls:

Controls Version Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3

v7 16 Account Monitoring and Control

Account Monitoring and Control

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6.2.16 Ensure no duplicate UIDs exist (Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 1 - Server

Description:

Although the useradd program will not let you create a duplicate User ID (UID), it is
possible for an administrator to manually edit the /etc/passwd file and change the UID
field.

Rationale:

Users must be assigned unique UIDs for accountability and to ensure appropriate access
protections.

Audit:

Run the following script and verify no results are returned:

#!/bin/bash

cut -f3 -d":" /etc/passwd | sort -n | uniq -c | while read x ; do

[ -z "$x" ] && break
set - $x
if [ $1 -gt 1 ]; then
users=$(awk -F: '($3 == n) { print $1 }' n=$2 /etc/passwd | xargs)
echo "Duplicate UID ($2): $users"
fi
done

Remediation:

Based on the results of the audit script, establish unique UIDs and review all files owned by
the shared UIDs to determine which UID they are supposed to belong to.

CIS Controls:

Controls Version Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3

v7 16 Account Monitoring and Control

Account Monitoring and Control

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6.2.17 Ensure no duplicate GIDs exist (Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 1 - Server

Description:

Although the groupadd program will not let you create a duplicate Group ID (GID), it is
possible for an administrator to manually edit the /etc/group file and change the GID field.

Rationale:

User groups must be assigned unique GIDs for accountability and to ensure appropriate
access protections.

Audit:

Run the following script and verify no results are returned:

#!/bin/bash

cut -f3 -d":" /etc/group | sort -n | uniq -c | while read x ; do

[ -z "$x" ] && break
set - $x
if [ $1 -gt 1 ]; then
groups=$(awk -F: '($3 == n) { print $1 }' n=$2 /etc/group | xargs)
echo "Duplicate GID ($2): $groups"
fi
done

Remediation:

Based on the results of the audit script, establish unique GIDs and review all files owned by
the shared GID to determine which group they are supposed to belong to.

Additional Information:

You can also use the grpck command to check for other inconsistencies in the /etc/group
file.

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CIS Controls:

Controls Version Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3

v7 16 Account Monitoring and Control

Account Monitoring and Control

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6.2.18 Ensure no duplicate user names exist (Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 1 - Server

Description:

Although the useradd program will not let you create a duplicate user name, it is possible
for an administrator to manually edit the /etc/passwd file and change the user name.

Rationale:

If a user is assigned a duplicate user name, it will create and have access to files with the
first UID for that username in /etc/passwd . For example, if "test4" has a UID of 1000 and a
subsequent "test4" entry has a UID of 2000, logging in as "test4" will use UID 1000.
Effectively, the UID is shared, which is a security problem.

Audit:

Run the following script and verify no results are returned:

#!/bin/bash

cut -f1 -d":" /etc/passwd | sort -n | uniq -c | while read x ; do

[ -z "$x" ] && break
set - $x
if [ $1 -gt 1 ]; then
uids=$(awk -F: '($1 == n) { print $3 }' n=$2 /etc/passwd | xargs)
echo "Duplicate User Name ($2): $uids"
fi
done

Remediation:

Based on the results of the audit script, establish unique user names for the users. File
ownerships will automatically reflect the change as long as the users have unique UIDs.

CIS Controls:

Controls Version Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3

v7 16 Account Monitoring and Control

Account Monitoring and Control

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6.2.19 Ensure no duplicate group names exist (Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 1 - Server

Description:

Although the groupadd program will not let you create a duplicate group name, it is
possible for an administrator to manually edit the /etc/group file and change the group
name.

Rationale:

If a group is assigned a duplicate group name, it will create and have access to files with the
first GID for that group in /etc/group . Effectively, the GID is shared, which is a security
problem.

Audit:

Run the following script and verify no results are returned:

#!/bin/bash

cut -f1 -d":" /etc/group | sort -n | uniq -c | while read x ; do

[ -z "$x" ] && break
set - $x
if [ $1 -gt 1 ]; then
gids=$(gawk -F: '($1 == n) { print $3 }' n=$2 /etc/group | xargs)
echo "Duplicate Group Name ($2): $gids"
fi
done

Remediation:

Based on the results of the audit script, establish unique names for the user groups. File
group ownerships will automatically reflect the change as long as the groups have unique
GIDs.

CIS Controls:

Controls Version Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3

v7 16 Account Monitoring and Control

Account Monitoring and Control

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6.2.20 Ensure shadow group is empty (Automated)
Profile Applicability:

• Level 1 - Server

Description:

The shadow group allows system programs which require access the ability to read the
/etc/shadow file. No users should be assigned to the shadow group.

Rationale:

Any users assigned to the shadow group would be granted read access to the /etc/shadow
file. If attackers can gain read access to the /etc/shadow file, they can easily run a password
cracking program against the hashed passwords to break them. Other security information
that is stored in the /etc/shadow file (such as expiration) could also be useful to subvert
additional user accounts.

Audit:

Run the following commands and verify no results are returned:

# grep ^shadow:[^:]:[^:]:[^:]+ /etc/group

# awk -F: '($4 == "<shadow-gid>") { print }' /etc/passwd

Remediation:

Remove all users from the shadow group, and change the primary group of any users with
shadow as their primary group.

CIS Controls:

Controls
Control IG 1 IG 2 IG 3
Version

5.1 Establish Secure Configurations

v7 Maintain documented, standard security configuration standards for all ● ● ●
authorized operating systems and software.

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Appendix: Recommendation Summary
Table
Control Set
Correctly
Yes No
1 Initial Setup
1.1 Filesystem Configuration
1.1.1 Disable unused filesystems
1.1.1.1 Ensure mounting of udf filesystems is disabled (Automated)  
1.1.2 Ensure /tmp is configured (Automated)  
1.1.3 Ensure nodev option set on /tmp partition (Automated)  
1.1.4 Ensure nosuid option set on /tmp partition (Automated)  
1.1.5 Ensure noexec option set on /tmp partition (Automated)  
1.1.6 Ensure nosuid option set on /var partition (Automated)  
1.1.7 Ensure noexec option set on /var partition (Automated)  
1.1.8 Ensure nodev option set on /var partition (Automated)  
1.1.9 Ensure nodev option set on /home partition (Automated)  
1.1.10 Ensure nodev option set on /dev/shm partition
 
(Automated)
1.1.11 Ensure nosuid option set on /dev/shm partition
 
(Automated)
1.1.12 Ensure noexec option set on /dev/shm partition
 
(Automated)
1.1.13 Disable Automounting (Automated)  
1.2 Filesystem Integrity Checking
1.2.1 Ensure dm-verity is enabled (Automated)  
1.3 Secure Boot Settings
1.3.1 Ensure authentication required for single user mode
 
(Automated)
1.4 Additional Process Hardening
1.4.1 Ensure core dumps are restricted (Automated)  
1.4.2 Ensure XD/NX support is enabled (Automated)  
1.4.3 Ensure address space layout randomization (ASLR) is
 
enabled (Automated)
1.5 Warning Banners
1.5.1 Command Line Warning Banners
1.5.1.1 Ensure message of the day is configured properly
 
(Automated)
1.5.1.2 Ensure local login warning banner is configured properly
 
(Automated)

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1.5.1.3 Ensure remote login warning banner is configured properly
 
(Automated)
1.5.1.4 Ensure permissions on /etc/motd are configured
 
(Automated)
1.5.1.5 Ensure permissions on /etc/issue are configured
 
(Automated)
1.5.1.6 Ensure permissions on /etc/issue.net are configured
 
(Automated)
1.6 Ensure AppArmor is installed (Automated)  
2 Services
2.1 Special Purpose Services
2.1.1 Time Synchronization
2.1.1.1 Ensure time synchronization is in use (Manual)  
2.1.1.2 Ensure chrony is configured (Automated)  
2.1.2 Ensure X Window System is not installed (Automated)  
2.1.3 Ensure NFS and RPC are not enabled (Automated)  
2.1.4 Ensure rsync service is not enabled (Automated)  
3 Network Configuration
3.1 Network Parameters (Host Only)
3.1.1 Ensure packet redirect sending is disabled (Automated)  
3.2 Network Parameters (Host and Router)
3.2.1 Ensure source routed packets are not accepted (Automated)  
3.2.2 Ensure ICMP redirects are not accepted (Automated)  
3.2.3 Ensure secure ICMP redirects are not accepted (Automated)  
3.2.4 Ensure suspicious packets are logged (Automated)  
3.2.5 Ensure broadcast ICMP requests are ignored (Automated)  
3.2.6 Ensure bogus ICMP responses are ignored (Automated)  
3.2.7 Ensure Reverse Path Filtering is enabled (Automated)  
3.2.8 Ensure TCP SYN Cookies is enabled (Automated)  
3.2.9 Ensure IPv6 router advertisements are not accepted
 
(Automated)
3.3 Firewall Configuration
3.3.1 Configure IPv6 ip6tables
3.3.1.1 Ensure IPv6 default deny firewall policy (Automated)  
3.3.1.2 Ensure IPv6 loopback traffic is configured (Automated)  
3.3.1.3 Ensure IPv6 outbound and established connections are
 
configured (Manual)
3.3.1.4 Ensure IPv6 firewall rules exist for all open ports (Manual)  
3.3.2 Configure IPv4 iptables
3.3.2.1 Ensure default deny firewall policy (Automated)  
3.3.2.2 Ensure loopback traffic is configured (Automated)  
3.3.2.3 Ensure outbound and established connections are
 
configured (Manual)

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3.3.3 Ensure iptables is installed (Automated)  
4 Logging and Auditing
4.1 Configure Logging
4.1.1 Configure stackdriver logging agent
4.1.1.1 Ensure correct container image is set for stackdriver logging
 
agent (Automated)
4.1.1.2 Ensure stackdriver Service is running (Automated)  
4.1.1.3 Ensure logging is configured (Manual)  
4.1.2 Configure journald
4.1.2.1 Ensure journald is configured to compress large log files
 
(Automated)
4.1.2.2 Ensure journald is configured to write logfiles to persistent
 
disk (Automated)
4.1.3 Ensure permissions on all logfiles are configured
 
(Automated)
4.2 Ensure logrotate is configured (Manual)  
5 Access, Authentication and Authorization
5.1 SSH Server Configuration
5.1.1 Ensure permissions on /etc/ssh/sshd_config are configured
 
(Automated)
5.1.2 Ensure permissions on SSH private host key files are
 
configured (Automated)
5.1.3 Ensure permissions on SSH public host key files are
 
configured (Automated)
5.1.4 Ensure SSH Protocol is set to 2 (Automated)  
5.1.5 Ensure SSH LogLevel is appropriate (Automated)  
5.1.6 Ensure SSH X11 forwarding is disabled (Automated)  
5.1.7 Ensure SSH MaxAuthTries is set to 4 or less (Automated)  
5.1.8 Ensure SSH IgnoreRhosts is enabled (Automated)  
5.1.9 Ensure SSH HostbasedAuthentication is disabled
 
(Automated)
5.1.10 Ensure SSH root login is disabled (Automated)  
5.1.11 Ensure SSH PermitEmptyPasswords is disabled
 
(Automated)
5.1.12 Ensure SSH PermitUserEnvironment is disabled
 
(Automated)
5.1.13 Ensure only strong Ciphers are used (Automated)  
5.1.14 Ensure only strong MAC algorithms are used (Automated)  
5.1.15 Ensure only strong Key Exchange algorithms are used
 
(Automated)
5.1.16 Ensure SSH Idle Timeout Interval is configured (Automated)  
5.1.17 Ensure SSH LoginGraceTime is set to one minute or less
 
(Automated)

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5.1.18 Ensure SSH access is limited (Automated)  
5.1.19 Ensure SSH warning banner is configured (Automated)  
5.1.20 Ensure SSH PAM is enabled (Automated)  
5.1.21 Ensure SSH AllowTcpForwarding is disabled (Automated)  
5.1.22 Ensure SSH MaxStartups is configured (Automated)  
5.1.23 Ensure SSH MaxSessions is set to 4 or less (Automated)  
5.2 Configure PAM
5.2.1 Ensure password creation requirements are configured
 
(Automated)
5.2.2 Ensure password reuse is limited (Manual)  
5.2.3 Ensure password hashing algorithm is SHA-512 (Manual)  
5.3 User Accounts and Environment
5.3.1 Set Shadow Password Suite Parameters
5.3.1.1 Ensure password expiration is 365 days or less (Automated)  
5.3.1.2 Ensure minimum days between password changes is 7 or
 
more (Automated)
5.3.1.3 Ensure password expiration warning days is 7 or more
 
(Automated)
5.3.1.4 Ensure inactive password lock is 30 days or less
 
(Automated)
5.3.1.5 Ensure all users last password change date is in the past
 
(Automated)
5.3.2 Ensure system accounts are secured (Automated)  
5.3.3 Ensure default group for the root account is GID 0
 
(Automated)
5.3.4 Ensure default user umask is 027 or more restrictive
 
(Automated)
5.3.5 Ensure default user shell timeout is 900 seconds or less
 
(Automated)
5.4 Ensure root login is restricted to system console (Manual)  
5.5 Ensure access to the su command is restricted (Automated)  
6 System Maintenance
6.1 System File Permissions
6.1.1 Ensure permissions on /etc/passwd are configured
 
(Automated)
6.1.2 Ensure permissions on /etc/shadow are configured
 
(Automated)
6.1.3 Ensure permissions on /etc/group are configured
 
(Automated)
6.1.4 Ensure permissions on /etc/gshadow are configured
 
(Automated)
6.1.5 Ensure permissions on /etc/passwd- are configured
 
(Automated)

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6.1.6 Ensure permissions on /etc/shadow- are configured
 
(Automated)
6.1.7 Ensure permissions on /etc/group- are configured
 
(Automated)
6.1.8 Ensure permissions on /etc/gshadow- are configured
 
(Automated)
6.2 User and Group Settings
6.2.1 Ensure password fields are not empty (Automated)  
6.2.2 Ensure no legacy "+" entries exist in /etc/passwd
 
(Automated)
6.2.3 Ensure no legacy "+" entries exist in /etc/shadow
 
(Automated)
6.2.4 Ensure no legacy "+" entries exist in /etc/group
 
(Automated)
6.2.5 Ensure root is the only UID 0 account (Automated)  
6.2.6 Ensure root PATH Integrity (Automated)  
6.2.7 Ensure all users' home directories exist (Automated)  
6.2.8 Ensure users' home directories permissions are 750 or
 
more restrictive (Automated)
6.2.9 Ensure users own their home directories (Automated)  
6.2.10 Ensure users' dot files are not group or world writable
 
(Automated)
6.2.11 Ensure no users have .forward files (Automated)  
6.2.12 Ensure no users have .netrc files (Automated)  
6.2.13 Ensure users' .netrc Files are not group or world accessible
 
(Automated)
6.2.14 Ensure no users have .rhosts files (Automated)  
6.2.15 Ensure all groups in /etc/passwd exist in /etc/group
 
(Automated)
6.2.16 Ensure no duplicate UIDs exist (Automated)  
6.2.17 Ensure no duplicate GIDs exist (Automated)  
6.2.18 Ensure no duplicate user names exist (Automated)  
6.2.19 Ensure no duplicate group names exist (Automated)  
6.2.20 Ensure shadow group is empty (Automated)  

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Appendix: CIS Controls v7 IG 1 Mapped
Recommendations
Recommendation Set
Correctly
Yes No
1.1.1.1 Ensure mounting of udf filesystems is disabled  
1.1.2 Ensure /tmp is configured  
1.1.3 Ensure nodev option set on /tmp partition  
1.1.4 Ensure nosuid option set on /tmp partition  
1.1.5 Ensure noexec option set on /tmp partition  
1.1.6 Ensure nosuid option set on /var partition  
1.1.7 Ensure noexec option set on /var partition  
1.1.8 Ensure nodev option set on /var partition  
1.1.9 Ensure nodev option set on /home partition  
1.1.10 Ensure nodev option set on /dev/shm partition  
1.1.11 Ensure nosuid option set on /dev/shm partition  
1.1.12 Ensure noexec option set on /dev/shm partition  
1.1.13 Disable Automounting  
1.3.1 Ensure authentication required for single user mode  
1.4.1 Ensure core dumps are restricted  
1.5.1.1 Ensure message of the day is configured properly  
1.5.1.2 Ensure local login warning banner is configured properly  
1.5.1.3 Ensure remote login warning banner is configured properly  
1.5.1.4 Ensure permissions on /etc/motd are configured  
1.5.1.5 Ensure permissions on /etc/issue are configured  
1.5.1.6 Ensure permissions on /etc/issue.net are configured  
1.6 Ensure AppArmor is installed  
2.1.2 Ensure X Window System is not installed  
3.1.1 Ensure packet redirect sending is disabled  
3.2.1 Ensure source routed packets are not accepted  
3.2.2 Ensure ICMP redirects are not accepted  
3.2.3 Ensure secure ICMP redirects are not accepted  
3.2.4 Ensure suspicious packets are logged  
3.2.5 Ensure broadcast ICMP requests are ignored  
3.2.6 Ensure bogus ICMP responses are ignored  
3.2.7 Ensure Reverse Path Filtering is enabled  
3.2.8 Ensure TCP SYN Cookies is enabled  
3.2.9 Ensure IPv6 router advertisements are not accepted  
3.3.1.1 Ensure IPv6 default deny firewall policy  

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3.3.1.2 Ensure IPv6 loopback traffic is configured  
3.3.1.3 Ensure IPv6 outbound and established connections are
 
configured
3.3.1.4 Ensure IPv6 firewall rules exist for all open ports  
3.3.2.1 Ensure default deny firewall policy  
3.3.2.2 Ensure loopback traffic is configured  
3.3.2.3 Ensure outbound and established connections are
 
configured
3.3.3 Ensure iptables is installed  
4.1.1.1 Ensure correct container image is set for stackdriver logging
 
agent
4.1.1.2 Ensure stackdriver Service is running  
4.1.1.3 Ensure logging is configured  
4.1.2.2 Ensure journald is configured to write logfiles to persistent
 
disk
4.1.3 Ensure permissions on all logfiles are configured  
5.1.1 Ensure permissions on /etc/ssh/sshd_config are configured  
5.1.2 Ensure permissions on SSH private host key files are
 
configured
5.1.3 Ensure permissions on SSH public host key files are
 
configured
5.1.5 Ensure SSH LogLevel is appropriate  
5.1.10 Ensure SSH root login is disabled  
5.1.12 Ensure SSH PermitUserEnvironment is disabled  
5.1.16 Ensure SSH Idle Timeout Interval is configured  
5.1.17 Ensure SSH LoginGraceTime is set to one minute or less  
5.1.18 Ensure SSH access is limited  
5.1.19 Ensure SSH warning banner is configured  
5.1.20 Ensure SSH PAM is enabled  
5.1.22 Ensure SSH MaxStartups is configured  
5.1.23 Ensure SSH MaxSessions is set to 4 or less  
5.3.3 Ensure default group for the root account is GID 0  
5.3.4 Ensure default user umask is 027 or more restrictive  
5.3.5 Ensure default user shell timeout is 900 seconds or less  
5.4 Ensure root login is restricted to system console  
5.5 Ensure access to the su command is restricted  
6.2.5 Ensure root is the only UID 0 account  
6.2.6 Ensure root PATH Integrity  
6.2.7 Ensure all users' home directories exist  
6.2.8 Ensure users' home directories permissions are 750 or
 
more restrictive
6.2.9 Ensure users own their home directories  
6.2.10 Ensure users' dot files are not group or world writable  

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6.2.11 Ensure no users have .forward files  
6.2.13 Ensure users' .netrc Files are not group or world accessible  
6.2.20 Ensure shadow group is empty  

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Appendix: CIS Controls v7 IG 2 Mapped
Recommendations
Recommendation Set
Correctly
Yes No
1.1.1.1 Ensure mounting of udf filesystems is disabled  
1.1.2 Ensure /tmp is configured  
1.1.3 Ensure nodev option set on /tmp partition  
1.1.4 Ensure nosuid option set on /tmp partition  
1.1.5 Ensure noexec option set on /tmp partition  
1.1.6 Ensure nosuid option set on /var partition  
1.1.7 Ensure noexec option set on /var partition  
1.1.8 Ensure nodev option set on /var partition  
1.1.9 Ensure nodev option set on /home partition  
1.1.10 Ensure nodev option set on /dev/shm partition  
1.1.11 Ensure nosuid option set on /dev/shm partition  
1.1.12 Ensure noexec option set on /dev/shm partition  
1.1.13 Disable Automounting  
1.3.1 Ensure authentication required for single user mode  
1.4.1 Ensure core dumps are restricted  
1.4.2 Ensure XD/NX support is enabled  
1.4.3 Ensure address space layout randomization (ASLR) is
 
enabled
1.5.1.1 Ensure message of the day is configured properly  
1.5.1.2 Ensure local login warning banner is configured properly  
1.5.1.3 Ensure remote login warning banner is configured properly  
1.5.1.4 Ensure permissions on /etc/motd are configured  
1.5.1.5 Ensure permissions on /etc/issue are configured  
1.5.1.6 Ensure permissions on /etc/issue.net are configured  
1.6 Ensure AppArmor is installed  
2.1.1.1 Ensure time synchronization is in use  
2.1.1.2 Ensure chrony is configured  
2.1.2 Ensure X Window System is not installed  
2.1.3 Ensure NFS and RPC are not enabled  
2.1.4 Ensure rsync service is not enabled  
3.1.1 Ensure packet redirect sending is disabled  
3.2.1 Ensure source routed packets are not accepted  
3.2.2 Ensure ICMP redirects are not accepted  
3.2.3 Ensure secure ICMP redirects are not accepted  

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3.2.4 Ensure suspicious packets are logged  
3.2.5 Ensure broadcast ICMP requests are ignored  
3.2.6 Ensure bogus ICMP responses are ignored  
3.2.7 Ensure Reverse Path Filtering is enabled  
3.2.8 Ensure TCP SYN Cookies is enabled  
3.2.9 Ensure IPv6 router advertisements are not accepted  
3.3.1.1 Ensure IPv6 default deny firewall policy  
3.3.1.2 Ensure IPv6 loopback traffic is configured  
3.3.1.3 Ensure IPv6 outbound and established connections are
 
configured
3.3.1.4 Ensure IPv6 firewall rules exist for all open ports  
3.3.2.1 Ensure default deny firewall policy  
3.3.2.2 Ensure loopback traffic is configured  
3.3.2.3 Ensure outbound and established connections are
 
configured
3.3.3 Ensure iptables is installed  
4.1.1.1 Ensure correct container image is set for stackdriver logging
 
agent
4.1.1.2 Ensure stackdriver Service is running  
4.1.1.3 Ensure logging is configured  
4.1.2.1 Ensure journald is configured to compress large log files  
4.1.2.2 Ensure journald is configured to write logfiles to persistent
 
disk
4.1.3 Ensure permissions on all logfiles are configured  
4.2 Ensure logrotate is configured  
5.1.1 Ensure permissions on /etc/ssh/sshd_config are configured  
5.1.2 Ensure permissions on SSH private host key files are
 
configured
5.1.3 Ensure permissions on SSH public host key files are
 
configured
5.1.4 Ensure SSH Protocol is set to 2  
5.1.5 Ensure SSH LogLevel is appropriate  
5.1.6 Ensure SSH X11 forwarding is disabled  
5.1.8 Ensure SSH IgnoreRhosts is enabled  
5.1.9 Ensure SSH HostbasedAuthentication is disabled  
5.1.10 Ensure SSH root login is disabled  
5.1.11 Ensure SSH PermitEmptyPasswords is disabled  
5.1.12 Ensure SSH PermitUserEnvironment is disabled  
5.1.13 Ensure only strong Ciphers are used  
5.1.14 Ensure only strong MAC algorithms are used  
5.1.15 Ensure only strong Key Exchange algorithms are used  
5.1.16 Ensure SSH Idle Timeout Interval is configured  
5.1.17 Ensure SSH LoginGraceTime is set to one minute or less  

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5.1.18 Ensure SSH access is limited  
5.1.19 Ensure SSH warning banner is configured  
5.1.20 Ensure SSH PAM is enabled  
5.1.21 Ensure SSH AllowTcpForwarding is disabled  
5.1.22 Ensure SSH MaxStartups is configured  
5.1.23 Ensure SSH MaxSessions is set to 4 or less  
5.2.1 Ensure password creation requirements are configured  
5.2.3 Ensure password hashing algorithm is SHA-512  
5.3.1.1 Ensure password expiration is 365 days or less  
5.3.1.2 Ensure minimum days between password changes is 7 or
 
more
5.3.1.3 Ensure password expiration warning days is 7 or more  
5.3.1.4 Ensure inactive password lock is 30 days or less  
5.3.1.5 Ensure all users last password change date is in the past  
5.3.3 Ensure default group for the root account is GID 0  
5.3.4 Ensure default user umask is 027 or more restrictive  
5.3.5 Ensure default user shell timeout is 900 seconds or less  
5.4 Ensure root login is restricted to system console  
5.5 Ensure access to the su command is restricted  
6.1.1 Ensure permissions on /etc/passwd are configured  
6.1.2 Ensure permissions on /etc/shadow are configured  
6.1.3 Ensure permissions on /etc/group are configured  
6.1.4 Ensure permissions on /etc/gshadow are configured  
6.1.5 Ensure permissions on /etc/passwd- are configured  
6.1.6 Ensure permissions on /etc/shadow- are configured  
6.1.7 Ensure permissions on /etc/group- are configured  
6.1.8 Ensure permissions on /etc/gshadow- are configured  
6.2.1 Ensure password fields are not empty  
6.2.2 Ensure no legacy "+" entries exist in /etc/passwd  
6.2.3 Ensure no legacy "+" entries exist in /etc/shadow  
6.2.4 Ensure no legacy "+" entries exist in /etc/group  
6.2.5 Ensure root is the only UID 0 account  
6.2.6 Ensure root PATH Integrity  
6.2.7 Ensure all users' home directories exist  
6.2.8 Ensure users' home directories permissions are 750 or
 
more restrictive
6.2.9 Ensure users own their home directories  
6.2.10 Ensure users' dot files are not group or world writable  
6.2.11 Ensure no users have .forward files  
6.2.12 Ensure no users have .netrc files  
6.2.13 Ensure users' .netrc Files are not group or world accessible  
6.2.14 Ensure no users have .rhosts files  
6.2.20 Ensure shadow group is empty  

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Appendix: CIS Controls v7 IG 3 Mapped
Recommendations
Recommendation Set
Correctly
Yes No
1.1.1.1 Ensure mounting of udf filesystems is disabled  
1.1.2 Ensure /tmp is configured  
1.1.3 Ensure nodev option set on /tmp partition  
1.1.4 Ensure nosuid option set on /tmp partition  
1.1.5 Ensure noexec option set on /tmp partition  
1.1.6 Ensure nosuid option set on /var partition  
1.1.7 Ensure noexec option set on /var partition  
1.1.8 Ensure nodev option set on /var partition  
1.1.9 Ensure nodev option set on /home partition  
1.1.10 Ensure nodev option set on /dev/shm partition  
1.1.11 Ensure nosuid option set on /dev/shm partition  
1.1.12 Ensure noexec option set on /dev/shm partition  
1.1.13 Disable Automounting  
1.2.1 Ensure dm-verity is enabled  
1.3.1 Ensure authentication required for single user mode  
1.4.1 Ensure core dumps are restricted  
1.4.2 Ensure XD/NX support is enabled  
1.4.3 Ensure address space layout randomization (ASLR) is
 
enabled
1.5.1.1 Ensure message of the day is configured properly  
1.5.1.2 Ensure local login warning banner is configured properly  
1.5.1.3 Ensure remote login warning banner is configured properly  
1.5.1.4 Ensure permissions on /etc/motd are configured  
1.5.1.5 Ensure permissions on /etc/issue are configured  
1.5.1.6 Ensure permissions on /etc/issue.net are configured  
1.6 Ensure AppArmor is installed  
2.1.1.1 Ensure time synchronization is in use  
2.1.1.2 Ensure chrony is configured  
2.1.2 Ensure X Window System is not installed  
2.1.3 Ensure NFS and RPC are not enabled  
2.1.4 Ensure rsync service is not enabled  
3.1.1 Ensure packet redirect sending is disabled  
3.2.1 Ensure source routed packets are not accepted  
3.2.2 Ensure ICMP redirects are not accepted  

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3.2.3 Ensure secure ICMP redirects are not accepted  
3.2.4 Ensure suspicious packets are logged  
3.2.5 Ensure broadcast ICMP requests are ignored  
3.2.6 Ensure bogus ICMP responses are ignored  
3.2.7 Ensure Reverse Path Filtering is enabled  
3.2.8 Ensure TCP SYN Cookies is enabled  
3.2.9 Ensure IPv6 router advertisements are not accepted  
3.3.1.1 Ensure IPv6 default deny firewall policy  
3.3.1.2 Ensure IPv6 loopback traffic is configured  
3.3.1.3 Ensure IPv6 outbound and established connections are
 
configured
3.3.1.4 Ensure IPv6 firewall rules exist for all open ports  
3.3.2.1 Ensure default deny firewall policy  
3.3.2.2 Ensure loopback traffic is configured  
3.3.2.3 Ensure outbound and established connections are
 
configured
3.3.3 Ensure iptables is installed  
4.1.1.1 Ensure correct container image is set for stackdriver logging
 
agent
4.1.1.2 Ensure stackdriver Service is running  
4.1.1.3 Ensure logging is configured  
4.1.2.1 Ensure journald is configured to compress large log files  
4.1.2.2 Ensure journald is configured to write logfiles to persistent
 
disk
4.1.3 Ensure permissions on all logfiles are configured  
4.2 Ensure logrotate is configured  
5.1.1 Ensure permissions on /etc/ssh/sshd_config are configured  
5.1.2 Ensure permissions on SSH private host key files are
 
configured
5.1.3 Ensure permissions on SSH public host key files are
 
configured
5.1.4 Ensure SSH Protocol is set to 2  
5.1.5 Ensure SSH LogLevel is appropriate  
5.1.6 Ensure SSH X11 forwarding is disabled  
5.1.7 Ensure SSH MaxAuthTries is set to 4 or less  
5.1.8 Ensure SSH IgnoreRhosts is enabled  
5.1.9 Ensure SSH HostbasedAuthentication is disabled  
5.1.10 Ensure SSH root login is disabled  
5.1.11 Ensure SSH PermitEmptyPasswords is disabled  
5.1.12 Ensure SSH PermitUserEnvironment is disabled  
5.1.13 Ensure only strong Ciphers are used  
5.1.14 Ensure only strong MAC algorithms are used  
5.1.15 Ensure only strong Key Exchange algorithms are used  

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5.1.16 Ensure SSH Idle Timeout Interval is configured  
5.1.17 Ensure SSH LoginGraceTime is set to one minute or less  
5.1.18 Ensure SSH access is limited  
5.1.19 Ensure SSH warning banner is configured  
5.1.20 Ensure SSH PAM is enabled  
5.1.21 Ensure SSH AllowTcpForwarding is disabled  
5.1.22 Ensure SSH MaxStartups is configured  
5.1.23 Ensure SSH MaxSessions is set to 4 or less  
5.2.1 Ensure password creation requirements are configured  
5.2.3 Ensure password hashing algorithm is SHA-512  
5.3.1.1 Ensure password expiration is 365 days or less  
5.3.1.2 Ensure minimum days between password changes is 7 or
 
more
5.3.1.3 Ensure password expiration warning days is 7 or more  
5.3.1.4 Ensure inactive password lock is 30 days or less  
5.3.1.5 Ensure all users last password change date is in the past  
5.3.3 Ensure default group for the root account is GID 0  
5.3.4 Ensure default user umask is 027 or more restrictive  
5.3.5 Ensure default user shell timeout is 900 seconds or less  
5.4 Ensure root login is restricted to system console  
5.5 Ensure access to the su command is restricted  
6.1.1 Ensure permissions on /etc/passwd are configured  
6.1.2 Ensure permissions on /etc/shadow are configured  
6.1.3 Ensure permissions on /etc/group are configured  
6.1.4 Ensure permissions on /etc/gshadow are configured  
6.1.5 Ensure permissions on /etc/passwd- are configured  
6.1.6 Ensure permissions on /etc/shadow- are configured  
6.1.7 Ensure permissions on /etc/group- are configured  
6.1.8 Ensure permissions on /etc/gshadow- are configured  
6.2.1 Ensure password fields are not empty  
6.2.2 Ensure no legacy "+" entries exist in /etc/passwd  
6.2.3 Ensure no legacy "+" entries exist in /etc/shadow  
6.2.4 Ensure no legacy "+" entries exist in /etc/group  
6.2.5 Ensure root is the only UID 0 account  
6.2.6 Ensure root PATH Integrity  
6.2.7 Ensure all users' home directories exist  
6.2.8 Ensure users' home directories permissions are 750 or
 
more restrictive
6.2.9 Ensure users own their home directories  
6.2.10 Ensure users' dot files are not group or world writable  
6.2.11 Ensure no users have .forward files  
6.2.12 Ensure no users have .netrc files  
6.2.13 Ensure users' .netrc Files are not group or world accessible  

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6.2.14 Ensure no users have .rhosts files  
6.2.20 Ensure shadow group is empty  

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Appendix: CIS Controls v8 IG 1 Mapped
Recommendations
Recommendation Set
Correctly
Yes No
1.1.1.1 Ensure mounting of udf filesystems is disabled  
1.1.2 Ensure /tmp is configured  
1.1.3 Ensure nodev option set on /tmp partition  
1.1.4 Ensure nosuid option set on /tmp partition  
1.1.5 Ensure noexec option set on /tmp partition  
1.1.6 Ensure nosuid option set on /var partition  
1.1.7 Ensure noexec option set on /var partition  
1.1.8 Ensure nodev option set on /var partition  
1.1.9 Ensure nodev option set on /home partition  
1.1.10 Ensure nodev option set on /dev/shm partition  
1.1.11 Ensure nosuid option set on /dev/shm partition  
1.1.12 Ensure noexec option set on /dev/shm partition  
1.1.13 Disable Automounting  
1.3.1 Ensure authentication required for single user mode  
1.5.1.4 Ensure permissions on /etc/motd are configured  
1.5.1.5 Ensure permissions on /etc/issue are configured  
1.5.1.6 Ensure permissions on /etc/issue.net are configured  
1.6 Ensure AppArmor is installed  
2.1.2 Ensure X Window System is not installed  
2.1.3 Ensure NFS and RPC are not enabled  
2.1.4 Ensure rsync service is not enabled  
3.2.4 Ensure suspicious packets are logged  
3.3.1.1 Ensure IPv6 default deny firewall policy  
3.3.1.2 Ensure IPv6 loopback traffic is configured  
3.3.1.3 Ensure IPv6 outbound and established connections are
 
configured
3.3.1.4 Ensure IPv6 firewall rules exist for all open ports  
3.3.2.1 Ensure default deny firewall policy  
3.3.2.2 Ensure loopback traffic is configured  
3.3.2.3 Ensure outbound and established connections are
 
configured
3.3.3 Ensure iptables is installed  
4.1.1.1 Ensure correct container image is set for stackdriver logging
 
agent

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4.1.1.2 Ensure stackdriver Service is running  
4.1.1.3 Ensure logging is configured  
4.1.2.2 Ensure journald is configured to write logfiles to persistent
 
disk
4.1.3 Ensure permissions on all logfiles are configured  
5.1.1 Ensure permissions on /etc/ssh/sshd_config are configured  
5.1.2 Ensure permissions on SSH private host key files are
 
configured
5.1.3 Ensure permissions on SSH public host key files are
 
configured
5.1.4 Ensure SSH Protocol is set to 2  
5.1.5 Ensure SSH LogLevel is appropriate  
5.1.6 Ensure SSH X11 forwarding is disabled  
5.1.7 Ensure SSH MaxAuthTries is set to 4 or less  
5.1.8 Ensure SSH IgnoreRhosts is enabled  
5.1.10 Ensure SSH root login is disabled  
5.1.12 Ensure SSH PermitUserEnvironment is disabled  
5.1.16 Ensure SSH Idle Timeout Interval is configured  
5.1.18 Ensure SSH access is limited  
5.1.21 Ensure SSH AllowTcpForwarding is disabled  
5.2.1 Ensure password creation requirements are configured  
5.3.1.1 Ensure password expiration is 365 days or less  
5.3.1.2 Ensure minimum days between password changes is 7 or
 
more
5.3.1.3 Ensure password expiration warning days is 7 or more  
5.3.1.4 Ensure inactive password lock is 30 days or less  
5.3.1.5 Ensure all users last password change date is in the past  
5.3.2 Ensure system accounts are secured  
5.3.3 Ensure default group for the root account is GID 0  
5.3.4 Ensure default user umask is 027 or more restrictive  
5.3.5 Ensure default user shell timeout is 900 seconds or less  
5.4 Ensure root login is restricted to system console  
5.5 Ensure access to the su command is restricted  
6.1.1 Ensure permissions on /etc/passwd are configured  
6.1.2 Ensure permissions on /etc/shadow are configured  
6.1.3 Ensure permissions on /etc/group are configured  
6.1.4 Ensure permissions on /etc/gshadow are configured  
6.1.5 Ensure permissions on /etc/passwd- are configured  
6.1.6 Ensure permissions on /etc/shadow- are configured  
6.1.7 Ensure permissions on /etc/group- are configured  
6.1.8 Ensure permissions on /etc/gshadow- are configured  
6.2.1 Ensure password fields are not empty  
6.2.5 Ensure root is the only UID 0 account  

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6.2.8 Ensure users' home directories permissions are 750 or
 
more restrictive
6.2.9 Ensure users own their home directories  
6.2.10 Ensure users' dot files are not group or world writable  
6.2.11 Ensure no users have .forward files  
6.2.13 Ensure users' .netrc Files are not group or world accessible  

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Appendix: CIS Controls v8 IG 2 Mapped
Recommendations
Recommendation Set
Correctly
Yes No
1.1.1.1 Ensure mounting of udf filesystems is disabled  
1.1.2 Ensure /tmp is configured  
1.1.3 Ensure nodev option set on /tmp partition  
1.1.4 Ensure nosuid option set on /tmp partition  
1.1.5 Ensure noexec option set on /tmp partition  
1.1.6 Ensure nosuid option set on /var partition  
1.1.7 Ensure noexec option set on /var partition  
1.1.8 Ensure nodev option set on /var partition  
1.1.9 Ensure nodev option set on /home partition  
1.1.10 Ensure nodev option set on /dev/shm partition  
1.1.11 Ensure nosuid option set on /dev/shm partition  
1.1.12 Ensure noexec option set on /dev/shm partition  
1.1.13 Disable Automounting  
1.2.1 Ensure dm-verity is enabled  
1.3.1 Ensure authentication required for single user mode  
1.4.2 Ensure XD/NX support is enabled  
1.4.3 Ensure address space layout randomization (ASLR) is
 
enabled
1.5.1.4 Ensure permissions on /etc/motd are configured  
1.5.1.5 Ensure permissions on /etc/issue are configured  
1.5.1.6 Ensure permissions on /etc/issue.net are configured  
1.6 Ensure AppArmor is installed  
2.1.1.1 Ensure time synchronization is in use  
2.1.1.2 Ensure chrony is configured  
2.1.2 Ensure X Window System is not installed  
2.1.3 Ensure NFS and RPC are not enabled  
2.1.4 Ensure rsync service is not enabled  
3.1.1 Ensure packet redirect sending is disabled  
3.2.1 Ensure source routed packets are not accepted  
3.2.2 Ensure ICMP redirects are not accepted  
3.2.3 Ensure secure ICMP redirects are not accepted  
3.2.4 Ensure suspicious packets are logged  
3.2.5 Ensure broadcast ICMP requests are ignored  
3.2.6 Ensure bogus ICMP responses are ignored  

273 | P a g e
3.2.7 Ensure Reverse Path Filtering is enabled  
3.2.8 Ensure TCP SYN Cookies is enabled  
3.2.9 Ensure IPv6 router advertisements are not accepted  
3.3.1.1 Ensure IPv6 default deny firewall policy  
3.3.1.2 Ensure IPv6 loopback traffic is configured  
3.3.1.3 Ensure IPv6 outbound and established connections are
 
configured
3.3.1.4 Ensure IPv6 firewall rules exist for all open ports  
3.3.2.1 Ensure default deny firewall policy  
3.3.2.2 Ensure loopback traffic is configured  
3.3.2.3 Ensure outbound and established connections are
 
configured
3.3.3 Ensure iptables is installed  
4.1.1.1 Ensure correct container image is set for stackdriver logging
 
agent
4.1.1.2 Ensure stackdriver Service is running  
4.1.1.3 Ensure logging is configured  
4.1.2.1 Ensure journald is configured to compress large log files  
4.1.2.2 Ensure journald is configured to write logfiles to persistent
 
disk
4.1.3 Ensure permissions on all logfiles are configured  
4.2 Ensure logrotate is configured  
5.1.1 Ensure permissions on /etc/ssh/sshd_config are configured  
5.1.2 Ensure permissions on SSH private host key files are
 
configured
5.1.3 Ensure permissions on SSH public host key files are
 
configured
5.1.4 Ensure SSH Protocol is set to 2  
5.1.5 Ensure SSH LogLevel is appropriate  
5.1.6 Ensure SSH X11 forwarding is disabled  
5.1.7 Ensure SSH MaxAuthTries is set to 4 or less  
5.1.8 Ensure SSH IgnoreRhosts is enabled  
5.1.9 Ensure SSH HostbasedAuthentication is disabled  
5.1.10 Ensure SSH root login is disabled  
5.1.11 Ensure SSH PermitEmptyPasswords is disabled  
5.1.12 Ensure SSH PermitUserEnvironment is disabled  
5.1.13 Ensure only strong Ciphers are used  
5.1.14 Ensure only strong MAC algorithms are used  
5.1.15 Ensure only strong Key Exchange algorithms are used  
5.1.16 Ensure SSH Idle Timeout Interval is configured  
5.1.18 Ensure SSH access is limited  
5.1.21 Ensure SSH AllowTcpForwarding is disabled  
5.2.1 Ensure password creation requirements are configured  

274 | P a g e
5.2.3 Ensure password hashing algorithm is SHA-512  
5.3.1.1 Ensure password expiration is 365 days or less  
5.3.1.2 Ensure minimum days between password changes is 7 or
 
more
5.3.1.3 Ensure password expiration warning days is 7 or more  
5.3.1.4 Ensure inactive password lock is 30 days or less  
5.3.1.5 Ensure all users last password change date is in the past  
5.3.2 Ensure system accounts are secured  
5.3.3 Ensure default group for the root account is GID 0  
5.3.4 Ensure default user umask is 027 or more restrictive  
5.3.5 Ensure default user shell timeout is 900 seconds or less  
5.4 Ensure root login is restricted to system console  
5.5 Ensure access to the su command is restricted  
6.1.1 Ensure permissions on /etc/passwd are configured  
6.1.2 Ensure permissions on /etc/shadow are configured  
6.1.3 Ensure permissions on /etc/group are configured  
6.1.4 Ensure permissions on /etc/gshadow are configured  
6.1.5 Ensure permissions on /etc/passwd- are configured  
6.1.6 Ensure permissions on /etc/shadow- are configured  
6.1.7 Ensure permissions on /etc/group- are configured  
6.1.8 Ensure permissions on /etc/gshadow- are configured  
6.2.1 Ensure password fields are not empty  
6.2.2 Ensure no legacy "+" entries exist in /etc/passwd  
6.2.3 Ensure no legacy "+" entries exist in /etc/shadow  
6.2.4 Ensure no legacy "+" entries exist in /etc/group  
6.2.5 Ensure root is the only UID 0 account  
6.2.8 Ensure users' home directories permissions are 750 or
 
more restrictive
6.2.9 Ensure users own their home directories  
6.2.10 Ensure users' dot files are not group or world writable  
6.2.11 Ensure no users have .forward files  
6.2.12 Ensure no users have .netrc files  
6.2.13 Ensure users' .netrc Files are not group or world accessible  
6.2.14 Ensure no users have .rhosts files  

275 | P a g e
Appendix: CIS Controls v8 IG 3 Mapped
Recommendations
Recommendation Set
Correctly
Yes No
1.1.1.1 Ensure mounting of udf filesystems is disabled  
1.1.2 Ensure /tmp is configured  
1.1.3 Ensure nodev option set on /tmp partition  
1.1.4 Ensure nosuid option set on /tmp partition  
1.1.5 Ensure noexec option set on /tmp partition  
1.1.6 Ensure nosuid option set on /var partition  
1.1.7 Ensure noexec option set on /var partition  
1.1.8 Ensure nodev option set on /var partition  
1.1.9 Ensure nodev option set on /home partition  
1.1.10 Ensure nodev option set on /dev/shm partition  
1.1.11 Ensure nosuid option set on /dev/shm partition  
1.1.12 Ensure noexec option set on /dev/shm partition  
1.1.13 Disable Automounting  
1.2.1 Ensure dm-verity is enabled  
1.3.1 Ensure authentication required for single user mode  
1.4.2 Ensure XD/NX support is enabled  
1.4.3 Ensure address space layout randomization (ASLR) is
 
enabled
1.5.1.4 Ensure permissions on /etc/motd are configured  
1.5.1.5 Ensure permissions on /etc/issue are configured  
1.5.1.6 Ensure permissions on /etc/issue.net are configured  
1.6 Ensure AppArmor is installed  
2.1.1.1 Ensure time synchronization is in use  
2.1.1.2 Ensure chrony is configured  
2.1.2 Ensure X Window System is not installed  
2.1.3 Ensure NFS and RPC are not enabled  
2.1.4 Ensure rsync service is not enabled  
3.1.1 Ensure packet redirect sending is disabled  
3.2.1 Ensure source routed packets are not accepted  
3.2.2 Ensure ICMP redirects are not accepted  
3.2.3 Ensure secure ICMP redirects are not accepted  
3.2.4 Ensure suspicious packets are logged  
3.2.5 Ensure broadcast ICMP requests are ignored  
3.2.6 Ensure bogus ICMP responses are ignored  

276 | P a g e
3.2.7 Ensure Reverse Path Filtering is enabled  
3.2.8 Ensure TCP SYN Cookies is enabled  
3.2.9 Ensure IPv6 router advertisements are not accepted  
3.3.1.1 Ensure IPv6 default deny firewall policy  
3.3.1.2 Ensure IPv6 loopback traffic is configured  
3.3.1.3 Ensure IPv6 outbound and established connections are
 
configured
3.3.1.4 Ensure IPv6 firewall rules exist for all open ports  
3.3.2.1 Ensure default deny firewall policy  
3.3.2.2 Ensure loopback traffic is configured  
3.3.2.3 Ensure outbound and established connections are
 
configured
3.3.3 Ensure iptables is installed  
4.1.1.1 Ensure correct container image is set for stackdriver logging
 
agent
4.1.1.2 Ensure stackdriver Service is running  
4.1.1.3 Ensure logging is configured  
4.1.2.1 Ensure journald is configured to compress large log files  
4.1.2.2 Ensure journald is configured to write logfiles to persistent
 
disk
4.1.3 Ensure permissions on all logfiles are configured  
4.2 Ensure logrotate is configured  
5.1.1 Ensure permissions on /etc/ssh/sshd_config are configured  
5.1.2 Ensure permissions on SSH private host key files are
 
configured
5.1.3 Ensure permissions on SSH public host key files are
 
configured
5.1.4 Ensure SSH Protocol is set to 2  
5.1.5 Ensure SSH LogLevel is appropriate  
5.1.6 Ensure SSH X11 forwarding is disabled  
5.1.7 Ensure SSH MaxAuthTries is set to 4 or less  
5.1.8 Ensure SSH IgnoreRhosts is enabled  
5.1.9 Ensure SSH HostbasedAuthentication is disabled  
5.1.10 Ensure SSH root login is disabled  
5.1.11 Ensure SSH PermitEmptyPasswords is disabled  
5.1.12 Ensure SSH PermitUserEnvironment is disabled  
5.1.13 Ensure only strong Ciphers are used  
5.1.14 Ensure only strong MAC algorithms are used  
5.1.15 Ensure only strong Key Exchange algorithms are used  
5.1.16 Ensure SSH Idle Timeout Interval is configured  
5.1.18 Ensure SSH access is limited  
5.1.20 Ensure SSH PAM is enabled  
5.1.21 Ensure SSH AllowTcpForwarding is disabled  

277 | P a g e
5.2.1 Ensure password creation requirements are configured  
5.2.3 Ensure password hashing algorithm is SHA-512  
5.3.1.1 Ensure password expiration is 365 days or less  
5.3.1.2 Ensure minimum days between password changes is 7 or
 
more
5.3.1.3 Ensure password expiration warning days is 7 or more  
5.3.1.4 Ensure inactive password lock is 30 days or less  
5.3.1.5 Ensure all users last password change date is in the past  
5.3.2 Ensure system accounts are secured  
5.3.3 Ensure default group for the root account is GID 0  
5.3.4 Ensure default user umask is 027 or more restrictive  
5.3.5 Ensure default user shell timeout is 900 seconds or less  
5.4 Ensure root login is restricted to system console  
5.5 Ensure access to the su command is restricted  
6.1.1 Ensure permissions on /etc/passwd are configured  
6.1.2 Ensure permissions on /etc/shadow are configured  
6.1.3 Ensure permissions on /etc/group are configured  
6.1.4 Ensure permissions on /etc/gshadow are configured  
6.1.5 Ensure permissions on /etc/passwd- are configured  
6.1.6 Ensure permissions on /etc/shadow- are configured  
6.1.7 Ensure permissions on /etc/group- are configured  
6.1.8 Ensure permissions on /etc/gshadow- are configured  
6.2.1 Ensure password fields are not empty  
6.2.2 Ensure no legacy "+" entries exist in /etc/passwd  
6.2.3 Ensure no legacy "+" entries exist in /etc/shadow  
6.2.4 Ensure no legacy "+" entries exist in /etc/group  
6.2.5 Ensure root is the only UID 0 account  
6.2.8 Ensure users' home directories permissions are 750 or
 
more restrictive
6.2.9 Ensure users own their home directories  
6.2.10 Ensure users' dot files are not group or world writable  
6.2.11 Ensure no users have .forward files  
6.2.12 Ensure no users have .netrc files  
6.2.13 Ensure users' .netrc Files are not group or world accessible  
6.2.14 Ensure no users have .rhosts files  

278 | P a g e
Appendix: Change History
Date Version Changes for this version

Dec 28, 2021 1.0.0 Initial Release

279 | P a g e

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