← Back to Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 Security Technical Implementation Guide

V-258034

CAT II (Medium)

RHEL 9 must be configured to disable USB mass storage.

Rule ID

SV-258034r1051267_rule

STIG

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 Security Technical Implementation Guide

Version

V2R8

CCIs

CCI-000778 CCI-001958 CCI-003959

Discussion

USB mass storage permits easy introduction of unknown devices, thereby facilitating malicious activity. Satisfies: SRG-OS-000114-GPOS-00059, SRG-OS-000378-GPOS-00163, SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227

Check Content

Verify that RHEL 9 disables the ability to load the USB Storage kernel module with the following command:

$ grep -r usb-storage /etc/modprobe.conf /etc/modprobe.d/* 

install usb-storage /bin/false
blacklist usb-storage

If the command does not return any output, or either line is commented out, and use of USB Storage is not documented with the information system security officer (ISSO) as an operational requirement, this is a finding.

Fix Text

To configure the system to prevent the usb-storage kernel module from being loaded, add the following lines to the file "/etc/modprobe.d/usb-storage.conf" (or create "usb-storage.conf" if it does not exist):

install usb-storage /bin/false
blacklist usb-storage