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V-13725

CAT II (Medium)

The KeepAlive directive must be enabled.

Rule ID

SV-32844r2_rule

STIG

APACHE 2.2 Server for UNIX Security Technical Implementation Guide

Version

V1R11

CCIs

None

Discussion

The KeepAlive extension to HTTP/1.0 and the persistent connection feature of HTTP/1.1 provide long lived HTTP sessions which allow multiple requests to be sent over the same connection. These requirements are set to mitigate the effects of several types of denial of service attacks. Although there is some latitude concerning the settings themselves, the requirements attempt to provide reasonable limits for the protection of the web server. If necessary, these limits can be adjusted to accommodate the operational requirement of a given system.

Check Content

To view the KeepAlive value enter the following command:

grep "KeepAlive" /usr/local/apache2/conf/httpd.conf.

Verify the Value of KeepAlive is set to “On” If not, this is a finding. 

NOTE: This vulnerability can be documented locally with the ISSM/ISSO if the site has operational reasons for not using persistent connections. If the site has this documentation, this should be marked as Not a Finding.

Fix Text

Edit the httpd.conf file and set the value of "KeepAlive" to "On"