Check: Exch-2-741
Exchange 2010 Hub Transport Server STIG:
Exch-2-741
(in version v1 r12)
Title
Receive Connector Maximum Hop Count must be 60. (Cat III impact)
Discussion
Email system availability depends in part on best practices strategies for setting tuning configurations. This setting controls the maximum number of hops (email servers traversed) a message may take as it travels to its destination. Part of the original Internet protocol implementation, the hop count limit prevents a message being passed in a routing loop indefinitely. Messages exceeding the maximum hop count are discarded undelivered. Recent studies indicate that virtually all messages can be delivered in fewer than 60 hops. If the hop count is set too low, messages may expire before they reach their destinations. If set too high, an undeliverable message may cycle between servers, raising the risk of network congestion.
Check Content
Obtain the Email Domain Security Plan (EDSP) and locate the value for 'Receive Connectors”. Open the Exchange Management Shell and enter the following command: Get-ReceiveConnector | Select name, MaxHopCount If the value of 'MaxHopCount' is set to 60 this is not a finding. If the value of 'MaxHopCount' is set to a value other than 60 and has signoff and risk acceptance in the EDSP, this is not a finding.
Fix Text
Open the Exchange Management Shell and enter the following command: Set-ReceiveConnector -MaxHopCount 60 If an alternate value is desired, obtain signoff with risk acceptance and document in the EDSP.
Additional Identifiers
Rule ID: SV-43999r2_rule
Vulnerability ID: V-33579
Group Title: Exch-2-741
Expert Comments
CCIs
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Controls
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