The operating system must employ cryptographic mechanisms to prevent unauthorized disclosure of data at rest unless otherwise protected by alternative physical measures.

Overview

Finding ID	Version	Rule ID	IA Controls	Severity
V-219567	OL6-00-000277	SV-219567r603263_rule		Low

Description
The risk of a system's physical compromise, particularly mobile systems such as laptops, places its data at risk of compromise. Encrypting this data mitigates the risk of its loss if the system is lost.

STIG	Date
Oracle Linux 6 Security Technical Implementation Guide	2021-06-14

Details

Check Text ( C-21292r358241_chk )
Determine if encryption must be used to protect data on the system. If encryption must be used and is not employed, this is a finding.

Fix Text (F-21291r358242_fix)
The operating system natively supports partition encryption through the Linux Unified Key Setup (LUKS) on-disk-format technology. The easiest way to encrypt a partition is during installation time. For manual installations, select the "Encrypt" checkbox during partition creation to encrypt the partition. When this option is selected, the system will prompt for a passphrase to use in decrypting the partition. The passphrase will subsequently need to be entered manually every time the system boots. For automated/unattended installations, it is possible to use Kickstart by adding the "--encrypted" and "--passphrase=" options to the definition of each partition to be encrypted. For example, the following line would encrypt the root partition: part / --fstype=ext3 --size=100 --onpart=hda1 --encrypted --passphrase=[PASSPHRASE] Any [PASSPHRASE] is stored in the Kickstart in plaintext, and the Kickstart must then be protected accordingly. Omitting the "--passphrase=" option from the partition definition will cause the installer to pause and interactively ask for the passphrase during installation. Detailed information on encrypting partitions using LUKS can be found in the Oracle Linux documentation at: http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E37670_01/E36387/html/index.html. Additional information is available from: http://linux.oracle.com/documentation/OL6/Red_Hat_Enterprise_Linux-6-Security_Guide-en-US.pdf"

Fix Text (F-21291r358242_fix)

The operating system natively supports partition encryption through the Linux Unified Key Setup (LUKS) on-disk-format technology. The easiest way to encrypt a partition is during installation time.

For manual installations, select the "Encrypt" checkbox during partition creation to encrypt the partition. When this option is selected, the system will prompt for a passphrase to use in decrypting the partition. The passphrase will subsequently need to be entered manually every time the system boots.

For automated/unattended installations, it is possible to use Kickstart by adding the "--encrypted" and "--passphrase=" options to the definition of each partition to be encrypted. For example, the following line would encrypt the root partition:

part / --fstype=ext3 --size=100 --onpart=hda1 --encrypted --passphrase=[PASSPHRASE]

Any [PASSPHRASE] is stored in the Kickstart in plaintext, and the Kickstart must then be protected accordingly. Omitting the "--passphrase=" option from the partition definition will cause the installer to pause and interactively ask for the passphrase during installation.

Detailed information on encrypting partitions using LUKS can be found in the Oracle Linux documentation at:

http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E37670_01/E36387/html/index.html.

Additional information is available from:

http://linux.oracle.com/documentation/OL6/Red_Hat_Enterprise_Linux-6-Security_Guide-en-US.pdf"