Title

The SSH daemon must not permit GSSAPI authentication unless needed. (Cat III impact)

Discussion

GSSAPI authentication is used to provide additional authentication mechanisms to applications. Allowing GSSAPI authentication through SSH exposes the system’s GSSAPI to remote hosts, increasing the attack surface of the system. GSSAPI authentication must be disabled unless needed.

Check Content

Ask the SA if GSSAPI authentication is used for SSH authentication to the system. If so, this is not applicable. Check the SSH daemon configuration for the GSSAPIAuthentication setting. # grep -i GSSAPIAuthentication /etc/ssh/sshd_config | grep -v '^#' If no lines are returned, or the setting is set to "yes", this is a finding.

Fix Text

Edit the SSH daemon configuration and set (add if necessary) a "GSSAPIAuthentication" directive set to "no". Restart the SSH daemon. # /sbin/service sshd restart

Additional Identifiers

Rule ID: SV-46052r2_rule

Vulnerability ID: V-22473

Group Title: GEN005524

Expert Comments

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