Title

The RHEL 9 SSH server configuration file must be owned by root. (Cat II impact)

Discussion

Service configuration files enable or disable features of their respective services, which if configured incorrectly, can lead to insecure and vulnerable configurations. Therefore, service configuration files must be owned by the correct group to prevent unauthorized changes.

Check Content

Verify the ownership of the "/etc/ssh/sshd_config" file and the contents of "/etc/ssh/sshd_config.d" with the following command: $ sudo find /etc/ssh/sshd_config /etc/ssh/sshd_config.d -exec stat -c "%U %n" {} \; root /etc/ssh/sshd_config root /etc/ssh/sshd_config.d root /etc/ssh/sshd_config.d/50-cloud-init.conf root /etc/ssh/sshd_config.d/50-redhat.conf If the "/etc/ssh/sshd_config" file or "/etc/ssh/sshd_config.d" or any files in the "sshd_config.d" directory do not have an owner of "root", this is a finding.

Fix Text

Configure the "/etc/ssh/sshd_config" file and the contents of "/etc/ssh/sshd_config.d" to be owned by root with the following command: $ sudo chown -R root /etc/ssh/sshd_config /etc/ssh/sshd_config.d

Additional Identifiers

Rule ID: SV-257998r1082181_rule

Vulnerability ID: V-257998

Group Title: SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227

Expert Comments

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