The Apache web server must remove all export ciphers to protect the confidentiality and integrity of transmitted information.

Overview

Finding ID	Version	Rule ID	IA Controls	Severity
V-214269	AS24-U1-000900	SV-214269r961632_rule		Medium

Description
During the initial setup of a Transport Layer Security (TLS) connection to the Apache web server, the client sends a list of supported cipher suites in order of preference. The Apache web server will reply with the cipher suite it will use for communication from the client list. If an attacker can intercept the submission of cipher suites to the Apache web server and place, as the preferred cipher suite, a weak export suite, the encryption used for the session becomes easy for the attacker to break, often within minutes to hours. Configuring the Apache server with only strong ciphersuites, denying or disabling weak ciphersuites, will prevent this vulnerability.

Description

During the initial setup of a Transport Layer Security (TLS) connection to the Apache web server, the client sends a list of supported cipher suites in order of preference. The Apache web server will reply with the cipher suite it will use for communication from the client list. If an attacker can intercept the submission of cipher suites to the Apache web server and place, as the preferred cipher suite, a weak export suite, the encryption used for the session becomes easy for the attacker to break, often within minutes to hours. Configuring the Apache server with only strong ciphersuites, denying or disabling weak ciphersuites, will prevent this vulnerability.

STIG	Date
Apache Server 2.4 UNIX Server Security Technical Implementation Guide	2024-05-23

Details

Check Text ( C-15483r881462_chk )
Determine the location of the "HTTPD_ROOT" directory and the "httpd.conf" and "ssl.conf" files: Search the httpd.conf and ssl.conf file for the following uncommented directive: SSLCipherSuite # cat httpd.conf \| grep -i SSLCipherSuite Output: None # cat /etc/httpd/conf.d/ssl.conf \| grep -i SSLCipherSuite Output: SSLCipherSuite HIGH:3DES:!NULL:!MD5:!SEED:!IDEA:!EXPORT For all enabled SSLCipherSuite directives, ensure the cipher specification string contains the kill cipher from list option for all export cipher suites, i.e., !EXPORT, which may be abbreviated !EXP as in the following example: Example: SSLCipherSuite="HIGH:MEDIUM:!MD5!EXP:!NULL:!LOW:!ADH If the SSLCipherSuite directive does not contain !EXPORT or !EXP or there are no enabled SSLCipherSuite directives, this is a finding.

Check Text ( C-15483r881462_chk )

Determine the location of the "HTTPD_ROOT" directory and the "httpd.conf" and "ssl.conf" files:

Search the httpd.conf and ssl.conf file for the following uncommented directive: SSLCipherSuite

# cat httpd.conf | grep -i SSLCipherSuite
Output: None

# cat /etc/httpd/conf.d/ssl.conf | grep -i SSLCipherSuite
Output: SSLCipherSuite HIGH:3DES:!NULL:!MD5:!SEED:!IDEA:!EXPORT

For all enabled SSLCipherSuite directives, ensure the cipher specification string contains the kill cipher from list option for all export cipher suites, i.e., !EXPORT, which may be abbreviated !EXP as in the following example:

Example: SSLCipherSuite="HIGH:MEDIUM:!MD5!EXP:!NULL:!LOW:!ADH

If the SSLCipherSuite directive does not contain !EXPORT or !EXP or there are no enabled SSLCipherSuite directives, this is a finding.

Fix Text (F-15481r505086_fix)
Update the cipher specification string for all enabled SSLCipherSuite directives to include !EXPORT.