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The SSH daemon must not allow authentication using known hosts authentication.


Overview

Finding ID Version Rule ID IA Controls Severity
V-72249 RHEL-07-040380 SV-86873r2_rule Medium
Description
Configuring this setting for the SSH daemon provides additional assurance that remote logon via SSH will require a password, even in the event of misconfiguration elsewhere.
STIG Date
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Security Technical Implementation Guide 2017-12-14

Details

Check Text ( C-72483r1_chk )
Verify the SSH daemon does not allow authentication using known hosts authentication.

To determine how the SSH daemon's "IgnoreUserKnownHosts" option is set, run the following command:

# grep -i IgnoreUserKnownHosts /etc/ssh/sshd_config

IgnoreUserKnownHosts yes

If the value is returned as "no", the returned line is commented out, or no output is returned, this is a finding.
Fix Text (F-78603r2_fix)
Configure the SSH daemon to not allow authentication using known hosts authentication.

Add the following line in "/etc/ssh/sshd_config", or uncomment the line and set the value to "yes":

IgnoreUserKnownHosts yes

The SSH service must be restarted for changes to take effect.