The system boot loader must require authentication.

Overview

Finding ID	Version	Rule ID	IA Controls	Severity
V-4249	GEN008700	SV-37933r1_rule	IAIA-1 IAIA-2	High

Description
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.

STIG	Date
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 Security Technical Implementation Guide	2013-01-17

Details

Check Text ( C-37191r1_chk )
Check the "/boot/grub/grub.conf" or "/boot/grub/menu.lst" files. # more /boot/grub/menu.lst Check for a password configuration line, such as: password --md5 This line should be just below the line beginning with "timeout". Please note will be replaced by the actual MD5 encrypted password. If the password line is not in either of the files, this is a finding. For any bootloader other than GRUB which has been authorized, justified and documented for use on the system refer to the vendor documentation on password support. If the bootloader does not support encrypted passwords, this is a finding.

Check Text ( C-37191r1_chk )

Check the "/boot/grub/grub.conf" or "/boot/grub/menu.lst" files.
# more /boot/grub/menu.lst

Check for a password configuration line, such as:
password --md5

This line should be just below the line beginning with "timeout". Please note will be replaced by the actual MD5 encrypted password. If the password line is not in either of the files, this is a finding.

For any bootloader other than GRUB which has been authorized, justified and documented for use on the system refer to the vendor documentation on password support. If the bootloader does not support encrypted passwords, this is a finding.

Fix Text (F-32425r1_fix)
The GRUB console boot loader can be configured to use an MD5 encrypted password by adding password --md5 password-hash to the "/boot/grub/grub.conf" file. Use "/sbin/grub-md5-crypt" to generate MD5 passwords from the command line.