V-214287

Discussion

The web server's private key is used to prove the identity of the server to clients and securely exchange the shared secret key used to encrypt communications between the web server and clients. By gaining access to the private key, an attacker can pretend to be an authorized server and decrypt the SSL traffic between a client and the web server.

Check Content

Verify the "ssl module" module is loaded
# httpd -M | grep -i ssl_module
Output:  ssl_module (shared) 

If the "ssl_module" is not enabled, this is a finding. 

Determine the location of the ssl.conf file:
# find / -name ssl.conf
Output: /etc/httpd/conf.d/ssl.conf

Search the ssl.conf file for the SSLCertificateKeyFile location.
# cat <path to file>/ssl.conf | grep -i SSLCertificateKeyFile
Output: SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/pki/tls/private/localhost.key

Identify the correct permission set and owner/group of the certificate key file.
# ls -laH /etc/pki/tls/private/localhost.key
Output: -rw-------. 1 root root 1675 Sep 10  2020 /etc/pki/tls/private/localhost.key

The permission set must be 600 or more restrictive and the owner/group of the key file must be accessible to only authenticated system administrator and the designated PKI Sponsor.

If the correct permissions are not set or if the private key is accessible by unauthenticated or unauthorized users, this is a finding.