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V-274859

CAT II (Medium)

Ubuntu 20.04 LTS must require users to provide a password for privilege escalation.

Rule ID

SV-274859r1101698_rule

STIG

Canonical Ubuntu 20.04 LTS Security Technical Implementation Guide

Version

V2R4

CCIs

CCI-002038 CCI-004895

Discussion

Without reauthentication, users may access resources or perform tasks for which they do not have authorization. When operating systems provide the capability to escalate a functional capability, it is critical that the user reauthenticate. Satisfies: SRG-OS-000373-GPOS-00156, SRG-OS-000373-GPOS-00157, SRG-OS-000373-GPOS-00158

Check Content

Verify that "/etc/sudoers" has no occurrences of "NOPASSWD" with the following command:

$ sudo egrep -iR 'NOPASSWD' /etc/sudoers /etc/sudoers.d/

If any occurrences of "NOPASSWD" are returned from the command and have not been documented with the information system security officer (ISSO) as an organizationally defined administrative group using multifactor authentication (MFA), this is a finding.

Fix Text

Configure the operating system to not allow users to execute privileged actions without authenticating with a password.

Remove any occurrence of "NOPASSWD" found in "/etc/sudoers" file or files in the "/etc/sudoers.d" directory.

$ sudo find /etc/sudoers /etc/sudoers.d -type f -exec sed -i '/NOPASSWD/ s/^/# /g' {} \;