Title

SLEM 5 must employ FIPS 140-2/140-3 approved cryptographic hashing algorithm for system authentication (login.defs). (Cat II impact)

Discussion

Unapproved mechanisms that are used for authentication to the cryptographic module are not verified and therefore cannot be relied on to provide confidentiality or integrity, and DOD data may be compromised. SLEM 5 using encryption are required to use FIPS 140-2/140-3 compliant mechanisms for authenticating to cryptographic modules. FIPS 140-2/140-3 is the current standard for validating that mechanisms used to access cryptographic modules use authentication that meets DOD requirements. This allows for Security Levels 1, 2, 3, or 4 for use on a general-purpose computing system.

Check Content

Verify that the shadow password suite configuration is set to encrypt password with a FIPS 140-2/140-3 approved cryptographic hashing algorithm with the following command: > grep "^ENCRYPT_METHOD " /etc/login.defs ENCRYPT_METHOD SHA512 If "ENCRYPT_METHOD" is not set to "SHA512", if any values other that "SHA512" are configured, or if no output is produced, this is a finding.

Fix Text

Configure SLEM 5 to require "ENCRYPT_METHOD" of "SHA512". Add or modify the following line in the "/etc/login.defs" file: ENCRYPT_METHOD SHA512

Additional Identifiers

Rule ID: SV-261393r996602_rule

Vulnerability ID: V-261393

Group Title: SRG-OS-000120-GPOS-00061

Expert Comments

CCIs tied to check.

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