Title

The Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating system must not contain .shosts or shosts.equiv files. (Cat I impact)

Discussion

The .shosts and shosts.equiv files are used to configure host-based authentication for the system via SSH. Host-based authentication is not sufficient for preventing unauthorized access to the system, as it does not require interactive identification and authentication of a connection request, or for the use of two-factor authentication.

Check Content

Verify there are no ".shosts" or "shosts.equiv" files on the system. # find / -name '*.shosts' # find / -name shosts.equiv If any ".shosts" or "shosts.equiv" files are found on the system, this is a finding.

Fix Text

Remove any found ".shosts" or "shosts.equiv" files from the system. # rm /[path]/[to]/[file]/.shosts # rm /[path]/[to]/[file]/shosts.equiv

Additional Identifiers

Rule ID: SV-217862r603264_rule

Vulnerability ID: V-217862

Group Title: SRG-OS-000480

Expert Comments

CCIs tied to check.

Controls tied to check. These are derived from the CCIs shown above.