Canonical Ubuntu 20.04 LTS STIG Version Comparison

There are 20 differences between versions v2 r1 (Oct. 24, 2024) (the "left" version) and v2 r3 (July 2, 2025) (the "right" version).

Check UBTU-20-010015 was added to the benchmark in the "right" version.

This check's original form is available here.

Title

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

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.

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

Fix

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' {} \;