Group
Guide to the Secure Configuration of Debian 12
Group contains 9 groups and 5 rules |
Group
System Settings
Group contains 8 groups and 5 rules |
[ref]
Contains rules that check correct system settings. |
Group
Account and Access Control
Group contains 5 groups and 3 rules |
[ref]
In traditional Unix security, if an attacker gains
shell access to a certain login account, they can perform any action
or access any file to which that account has access. Therefore,
making it more difficult for unauthorized people to gain shell
access to accounts, particularly to privileged accounts, is a
necessary part of securing a system. This section introduces
mechanisms for restricting access to accounts under
Debian 12. |
Group
Protect Accounts by Configuring PAM
Group contains 2 groups and 2 rules |
[ref]
PAM, or Pluggable Authentication Modules, is a system
which implements modular authentication for Linux programs. PAM provides
a flexible and configurable architecture for authentication, and it should be configured
to minimize exposure to unnecessary risk. This section contains
guidance on how to accomplish that.
PAM is implemented as a set of shared objects which are
loaded and invoked whenever an application wishes to authenticate a
user. Typically, the application must be running as root in order
to take advantage of PAM, because PAM's modules often need to be able
to access sensitive stores of account information, such as /etc/shadow.
Traditional privileged network listeners
(e.g. sshd) or SUID programs (e.g. sudo) already meet this
requirement. An SUID root application, userhelper, is provided so
that programs which are not SUID or privileged themselves can still
take advantage of PAM.
PAM looks in the directory /etc/pam.d for
application-specific configuration information. For instance, if
the program login attempts to authenticate a user, then PAM's
libraries follow the instructions in the file /etc/pam.d/login
to determine what actions should be taken.
One very important file in /etc/pam.d is
/etc/pam.d/system-auth . This file, which is included by
many other PAM configuration files, defines 'default' system authentication
measures. Modifying this file is a good way to make far-reaching
authentication changes, for instance when implementing a
centralized authentication service. Warning:
Be careful when making changes to PAM's configuration files.
The syntax for these files is complex, and modifications can
have unexpected consequences. The default configurations shipped
with applications should be sufficient for most users. |
Group
Set Password Quality Requirements
Group contains 1 group and 2 rules |
[ref]
The default pam_pwquality PAM module provides strength
checking for passwords. It performs a number of checks, such as
making sure passwords are not similar to dictionary words, are of
at least a certain length, are not the previous password reversed,
and are not simply a change of case from the previous password. It
can also require passwords to be in certain character classes. The
pam_pwquality module is the preferred way of configuring
password requirements.
The man pages pam_pwquality(8)
provide information on the capabilities and configuration of
each. |
Group
Set Password Quality Requirements with pam_pwquality
Group contains 2 rules |
[ref]
The pam_pwquality PAM module can be configured to meet
requirements for a variety of policies.
For example, to configure pam_pwquality to require at least one uppercase
character, lowercase character, digit, and other (special)
character, make sure that pam_pwquality exists in /etc/pam.d/system-auth :
password requisite pam_pwquality.so try_first_pass local_users_only retry=3 authtok_type=
If no such line exists, add one as the first line of the password section in /etc/pam.d/system-auth .
Next, modify the settings in /etc/security/pwquality.conf to match the following:
difok = 4
minlen = 14
dcredit = -1
ucredit = -1
lcredit = -1
ocredit = -1
maxrepeat = 3
The arguments can be modified to ensure compliance with
your organization's security policy. Discussion of each parameter follows. |
Rule
Ensure PAM Enforces Password Requirements - Minimum Different Categories
[ref] | The pam_pwquality module's minclass parameter controls
requirements for usage of different character classes, or types, of character
that must exist in a password before it is considered valid. For example,
setting this value to three (3) requires that any password must have characters
from at least three different categories in order to be approved. The default
value is zero (0), meaning there are no required classes. There are four
categories available:
* Upper-case characters
* Lower-case characters
* Digits
* Special characters (for example, punctuation)
Modify the minclass setting in /etc/security/pwquality.conf entry
to require 4
differing categories of characters when changing passwords. | Rationale: | Use of a complex password helps to increase the time and resources required to compromise the password.
Password complexity, or strength, is a measure of the effectiveness of a password in resisting attempts
at guessing and brute-force attacks.
Password complexity is one factor of several that determines how long it takes to crack a password. The
more complex the password, the greater the number of possible combinations that need to be tested before
the password is compromised.
Requiring a minimum number of character categories makes password guessing attacks more difficult
by ensuring a larger search space. | Severity: | medium | Identifiers and References | References:
1, 12, 15, 16, 5, DSS05.04, DSS05.05, DSS05.07, DSS05.10, DSS06.03, DSS06.10, CCI-000195, 4.3.3.2.2, 4.3.3.5.1, 4.3.3.5.2, 4.3.3.6.1, 4.3.3.6.2, 4.3.3.6.3, 4.3.3.6.4, 4.3.3.6.5, 4.3.3.6.6, 4.3.3.6.7, 4.3.3.6.8, 4.3.3.6.9, 4.3.3.7.2, 4.3.3.7.4, SR 1.1, SR 1.10, SR 1.2, SR 1.3, SR 1.4, SR 1.5, SR 1.7, SR 1.8, SR 1.9, SR 2.1, 0421, 0422, 0431, 0974, 1173, 1401, 1504, 1505, 1546, 1557, 1558, 1559, 1560, 1561, A.18.1.4, A.7.1.1, A.9.2.1, A.9.2.2, A.9.2.3, A.9.2.4, A.9.2.6, A.9.3.1, A.9.4.2, A.9.4.3, IA-5(c), IA-5(1)(a), CM-6(a), IA-5(4), PR.AC-1, PR.AC-6, PR.AC-7, SRG-OS-000072-GPOS-00040, R68 | |
|
Rule
Ensure PAM Enforces Password Requirements - Authentication Retry Prompts Permitted Per-Session
[ref] | To configure the number of retry prompts that are permitted per-session:
Edit the pam_pwquality.so statement in
/etc/pam.d/system-auth to show
retry=3
, or a lower value if site
policy is more restrictive. The DoD requirement is a maximum of 3 prompts
per session. | Rationale: | Setting the password retry prompts that are permitted on a per-session basis to a low value
requires some software, such as SSH, to re-connect. This can slow down and
draw additional attention to some types of password-guessing attacks. Note that this
is different from account lockout, which is provided by the pam_faillock module. | Severity: | medium | Identifiers and References | References:
1, 11, 12, 15, 16, 3, 5, 9, 5.5.3, BAI10.01, BAI10.02, BAI10.03, BAI10.05, DSS05.04, DSS05.05, DSS05.07, DSS05.10, DSS06.03, DSS06.10, CCI-000192, CCI-000366, 4.3.3.2.2, 4.3.3.5.1, 4.3.3.5.2, 4.3.3.6.1, 4.3.3.6.2, 4.3.3.6.3, 4.3.3.6.4, 4.3.3.6.5, 4.3.3.6.6, 4.3.3.6.7, 4.3.3.6.8, 4.3.3.6.9, 4.3.3.7.2, 4.3.3.7.4, 4.3.4.3.2, 4.3.4.3.3, SR 1.1, SR 1.10, SR 1.2, SR 1.3, SR 1.4, SR 1.5, SR 1.7, SR 1.8, SR 1.9, SR 2.1, SR 7.6, A.12.1.2, A.12.5.1, A.12.6.2, A.14.2.2, A.14.2.3, A.14.2.4, A.18.1.4, A.7.1.1, A.9.2.1, A.9.2.2, A.9.2.3, A.9.2.4, A.9.2.6, A.9.3.1, A.9.4.2, A.9.4.3, CM-6(a), AC-7(a), IA-5(4), PR.AC-1, PR.AC-6, PR.AC-7, PR.IP-1, FMT_MOF_EXT.1, SRG-OS-000069-GPOS-00037, SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227, R68 | |
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Group
Protect Accounts by Restricting Password-Based Login
Group contains 1 group and 1 rule |
[ref]
Conventionally, Unix shell accounts are accessed by
providing a username and password to a login program, which tests
these values for correctness using the /etc/passwd and
/etc/shadow files. Password-based login is vulnerable to
guessing of weak passwords, and to sniffing and man-in-the-middle
attacks against passwords entered over a network or at an insecure
console. Therefore, mechanisms for accessing accounts by entering
usernames and passwords should be restricted to those which are
operationally necessary. |
Group
Set Password Expiration Parameters
Group contains 1 rule |
[ref]
The file /etc/login.defs controls several
password-related settings. Programs such as passwd ,
su , and
login consult /etc/login.defs to determine
behavior with regard to password aging, expiration warnings,
and length. See the man page login.defs(5) for more information.
Users should be forced to change their passwords, in order to
decrease the utility of compromised passwords. However, the need to
change passwords often should be balanced against the risk that
users will reuse or write down passwords if forced to change them
too often. Forcing password changes every 90-360 days, depending on
the environment, is recommended. Set the appropriate value as
PASS_MAX_DAYS and apply it to existing accounts with the
-M flag.
The PASS_MIN_DAYS (-m ) setting prevents password
changes for 7 days after the first change, to discourage password
cycling. If you use this setting, train users to contact an administrator
for an emergency password change in case a new password becomes
compromised. The PASS_WARN_AGE (-W ) setting gives
users 7 days of warnings at login time that their passwords are about to expire.
For example, for each existing human user USER, expiration parameters
could be adjusted to a 180 day maximum password age, 7 day minimum password
age, and 7 day warning period with the following command:
$ sudo chage -M 180 -m 7 -W 7 USER
|
Rule
Set Root Account Password Maximum Age
[ref] | Configure the root account to enforce a 365-day maximum password lifetime restriction by running the following command:
$ sudo chage -M 365 root
| Rationale: | Any password, no matter how complex, can eventually be cracked. Therefore,
passwords need to be changed periodically. If the operating system does
not limit the lifetime of passwords and force users to change their
passwords, there is the risk that the operating system passwords could be
compromised. | Severity: | medium | Identifiers and References | References:
R31 | |
|
Group
File Permissions and Masks
Group contains 1 group and 2 rules |
[ref]
Traditional Unix security relies heavily on file and
directory permissions to prevent unauthorized users from reading or
modifying files to which they should not have access.
Several of the commands in this section search filesystems
for files or directories with certain characteristics, and are
intended to be run on every local partition on a given system.
When the variable PART appears in one of the commands below,
it means that the command is intended to be run repeatedly, with the
name of each local partition substituted for PART in turn.
The following command prints a list of all xfs partitions on the local
system, which is the default filesystem for Debian 12
installations:
$ mount -t xfs | awk '{print $3}'
For any systems that use a different
local filesystem type, modify this command as appropriate. |
Group
Verify Permissions on Important Files and
Directories
Group contains 2 rules |
[ref]
Permissions for many files on a system must be set
restrictively to ensure sensitive information is properly protected.
This section discusses important
permission restrictions which can be verified
to ensure that no harmful discrepancies have
arisen. |
Rule
Verify that All World-Writable Directories Have Sticky Bits Set
[ref] | When the so-called 'sticky bit' is set on a directory, only the owner of a given file may
remove that file from the directory. Without the sticky bit, any user with write access to a
directory may remove any file in the directory. Setting the sticky bit prevents users from
removing each other's files. In cases where there is no reason for a directory to be
world-writable, a better solution is to remove that permission rather than to set the sticky
bit. However, if a directory is used by a particular application, consult that application's
documentation instead of blindly changing modes.
To set the sticky bit on a world-writable directory DIR, run the following command:
$ sudo chmod +t DIR
Warning:
This rule can take a long time to perform the check and might consume a considerable
amount of resources depending on the number of directories present on the system. It is
not a problem in most cases, but especially systems with a large number of directories can
be affected. See https://access.redhat.com/articles/6999111 . | Rationale: | Failing to set the sticky bit on public directories allows unauthorized users to delete files
in the directory structure.
The only authorized public directories are those temporary directories supplied with the
system, or those designed to be temporary file repositories. The setting is normally reserved
for directories used by the system, by users for temporary file storage (such as /tmp ),
and for directories requiring global read/write access. | Severity: | medium | Identifiers and References | References:
12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18, 3, 5, APO01.06, DSS05.04, DSS05.07, DSS06.02, CCI-001090, 4.3.3.7.3, SR 2.1, SR 5.2, A.10.1.1, A.11.1.4, A.11.1.5, A.11.2.1, A.13.1.1, A.13.1.3, A.13.2.1, A.13.2.3, A.13.2.4, A.14.1.2, A.14.1.3, A.6.1.2, A.7.1.1, A.7.1.2, A.7.3.1, A.8.2.2, A.8.2.3, A.9.1.1, A.9.1.2, A.9.2.3, A.9.4.1, A.9.4.4, A.9.4.5, CIP-003-8 R5.1.1, CIP-003-8 R5.3, CIP-004-6 R2.3, CIP-007-3 R2.1, CIP-007-3 R2.2, CIP-007-3 R2.3, CIP-007-3 R5.1, CIP-007-3 R5.1.1, CIP-007-3 R5.1.2, CM-6(a), AC-6(1), PR.AC-4, PR.DS-5, SRG-OS-000138-GPOS-00069, R54, 2.2.6 | |
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Rule
Ensure No World-Writable Files Exist
[ref] | It is generally a good idea to remove global (other) write access to a file when it is
discovered. However, check with documentation for specific applications before making changes.
Also, monitor for recurring world-writable files, as these may be symptoms of a misconfigured
application or user account. Finally, this applies to real files and not virtual files that
are a part of pseudo file systems such as sysfs or procfs . Warning:
This rule can take a long time to perform the check and might consume a considerable
amount of resources depending on the number of files present on the system. It is not a
problem in most cases, but especially systems with a large number of files can be affected.
See https://access.redhat.com/articles/6999111 . | Rationale: | Data in world-writable files can be modified by any user on the system. In almost all
circumstances, files can be configured using a combination of user and group permissions to
support whatever legitimate access is needed without the risk caused by world-writable files. | Severity: | medium | Identifiers and References | References:
12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18, 3, 5, APO01.06, DSS05.04, DSS05.07, DSS06.02, 4.3.3.7.3, SR 2.1, SR 5.2, A.10.1.1, A.11.1.4, A.11.1.5, A.11.2.1, A.13.1.1, A.13.1.3, A.13.2.1, A.13.2.3, A.13.2.4, A.14.1.2, A.14.1.3, A.6.1.2, A.7.1.1, A.7.1.2, A.7.3.1, A.8.2.2, A.8.2.3, A.9.1.1, A.9.1.2, A.9.2.3, A.9.4.1, A.9.4.4, A.9.4.5, CIP-003-8 R5.1.1, CIP-003-8 R5.3, CIP-004-6 R2.3, CIP-007-3 R2.1, CIP-007-3 R2.2, CIP-007-3 R2.3, CIP-007-3 R5.1, CIP-007-3 R5.1.1, CIP-007-3 R5.1.2, CM-6(a), AC-6(1), PR.AC-4, PR.DS-5, R54, 2.2.6 | |
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