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V-215292

CAT II (Medium)

If GSSAPI authentication is not required on AIX, the SSH daemon must disable GSSAPI authentication.

Rule ID

SV-215292r1050791_rule

STIG

IBM AIX 7.x Security Technical Implementation Guide

Version

V3R2

CCIs

CCI-004895 CCI-002038

Discussion

GSSAPI authentication is used to provide additional authentication mechanisms to applications. Allowing GSSAPI authentication through SSH exposes the system's GSSAPI to remote hosts, increasing the attack surface of the system. GSSAPI authentication must be disabled unless needed.

Check Content

Ask the SA if GSSAPI authentication is used for SSH authentication to the system. If so, this is not applicable. 

Check the SSH daemon configuration for the GSSAPI authentication setting: 

# grep -i GSSAPIAuthentication /etc/ssh/sshd_config | grep -v '^#' 
GSSAPIAuthentication no

If the setting is not set to "no", this is a finding.

Fix Text

Edit "/etc/ssh/sshd_config" and remove the "GSSAPIAuthentication" setting or change the value to "no".

Refresh sshd:
# stopsrc -s sshd
# startsrc -s sshd