Title

The system boot loader must require authentication. (Cat I impact)

Discussion

If the system's boot loader does not require authentication, users with console access to the system may be able to alter the system boot configuration or boot the system into single user or maintenance mode, which could result in Denial-of-Service or unauthorized privileged access to the system.

Check Content

This check applies to the global zone only. Determine the type of zone that you are currently securing. # zonename If the command output is "global", this check applies. On systems that have a ZFS root, the active menu.lst file is typically located at /pool-name/boot/grub/menu.lst where "pool-name" is the mount point for the top-level dataset. On systems that have a UFS root, the active menu.lst file is typically located at /boot/grub/menu.lst. To locate the active GRUB menu, use the bootadm command with the list-menu option: # bootadm list-menu Check the menu.lst file for the use of passwords. Procedure: # more /pool-name/boot/grub/menu.lst or # more /boot/grub/menu.lst Check for a password configuration line, such as the one below. password --md5 <password-hash> This line should be just below the line beginning with "timeout". Please note <password-hash> will be replaced by the actual MD5 encrypted password. If the password line is not in either of the files, this is a finding.

Fix Text

The GRUB console boot loader can be configured to use an MD5 encrypted password by adding password --md5 password-hash to the /pool-name/boot/grub/menu.lst or /boot/grub/menu.lst file. Use grub-md5-crypt to generate MD5 passwords from the command line.

Additional Identifiers

Rule ID: SV-4249r3_rule

Vulnerability ID: V-4249

Group Title: GEN008700

Expert Comments

CCIs tied to check.

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