Title

RHEL 9 must enable the Pluggable Authentication Module (PAM) interface for SSHD. (Cat I impact)

Discussion

When UsePAM is set to "yes", PAM runs through account and session types properly. This is important when restricted access to services based off of IP, time, or other factors of the account is needed. Additionally, this ensures users can inherit certain environment variables on login or disallow access to the server.

Check Content

Verify the RHEL 9 SSHD is configured to allow for the UsePAM interface with the following command: $ sudo grep -i usepam /etc/ssh/sshd_config UsePAM yes If the "UsePAM" keyword is set to "no", is missing, or is commented out, this is a finding.

Fix Text

Configure the RHEL 9 SSHD to use the UsePAM interface add or modify the following line in "/etc/ssh/sshd_config". UsePAM yes Restart the SSH daemon for the settings to take effect: $ sudo systemctl restart sshd.service

Additional Identifiers

Rule ID: SV-257986r925945_rule

Vulnerability ID: V-257986

Group Title: SRG-OS-000125-GPOS-00065

Expert Comments

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