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V-248613

CAT II (Medium)

OL 8 must not permit direct logons to the root account using remote access via SSH.

Rule ID

SV-248613r1015039_rule

STIG

Oracle Linux 8 Security Technical Implementation Guide

Version

V2R8

CCIs

CCI-004045 CCI-000770

Discussion

Although the communications channel may be encrypted, an additional layer of security is gained by extending the policy of not logging on directly as root. In addition, logging on with a user-specific account provides individual accountability of actions performed on the system.

Check Content

Verify remote access using SSH prevents users from logging on directly as "root" with the following command:

$ sudo /usr/sbin/sshd -dd 2>&1 | awk '/filename/ {print $4}' | tr -d '\r' | tr '\n' ' ' | xargs sudo grep -iH '^\s*permitrootlogin'

PermitRootLogin no

If the "PermitRootLogin" keyword is set to "yes", is missing, or is commented out, this is a finding.

If conflicting results are returned, this is a finding.

Fix Text

Configure OL 8 to stop users from logging on remotely as the "root" user via SSH. 
 
Edit the appropriate "/etc/ssh/sshd_config" file to uncomment or add the line for the "PermitRootLogin" keyword and set its value to "no": 
 
PermitRootLogin no 
 
The SSH daemon must be restarted for the changes to take effect. To restart the SSH daemon, run the following command: 
 
$ sudo systemctl restart sshd.service