The SUSE operating system must employ FIPS 140-2 approved cryptographic hashing algorithm for system authentication (login.defs).

Overview

Finding ID	Version	Rule ID	IA Controls	Severity
V-77093	SLES-12-010210	SV-91789r2_rule		Medium

Description
Unapproved mechanisms that are used for authentication to the cryptographic module are not verified and therefore cannot be relied on to provide confidentiality or integrity, and DoD data may be compromised. SUSE operating systems using encryption are required to use FIPS-compliant mechanisms for authenticating to cryptographic modules. FIPS 140-2 is the current standard for validating that mechanisms used to access cryptographic modules use authentication that meets DoD requirements. This allows for Security Levels 1, 2, 3, or 4 for use on a general purpose computing system.

Description

Unapproved mechanisms that are used for authentication to the cryptographic module are not verified and therefore cannot be relied on to provide confidentiality or integrity, and DoD data may be compromised. SUSE operating systems using encryption are required to use FIPS-compliant mechanisms for authenticating to cryptographic modules. FIPS 140-2 is the current standard for validating that mechanisms used to access cryptographic modules use authentication that meets DoD requirements. This allows for Security Levels 1, 2, 3, or 4 for use on a general purpose computing system.

STIG	Date
SLES 12 Security Technical Implementation Guide	2020-06-30

Details

Check Text ( C-76701r2_chk )
Verify the SUSE operating system requires that the "ENCRYPT_METHOD" value in "/etc/login.defs" is set to "SHA512". Check the value of "ENCRYPT_METHOD" value in "/etc/login.defs" with the following command: # cat /etc/login.defs \| grep -i encrypt_method ENCRYPT_METHOD SHA512 If "ENCRYPT_METHOD" is not set to "SHA512", if any values other that "SHA512" are configured, or "ENCRYPT_METHOD" is commented out or not set, this is a finding.

Check Text ( C-76701r2_chk )

Verify the SUSE operating system requires that the "ENCRYPT_METHOD" value in "/etc/login.defs" is set to "SHA512".

Check the value of "ENCRYPT_METHOD" value in "/etc/login.defs" with the following command:

# cat /etc/login.defs | grep -i encrypt_method

ENCRYPT_METHOD SHA512

If "ENCRYPT_METHOD" is not set to "SHA512", if any values other that "SHA512" are configured, or "ENCRYPT_METHOD" is commented out or not set, this is a finding.

Fix Text (F-83789r2_fix)
Configure the SUSE operating system to require "ENCRYPT_METHOD" in "/etc/login.defs" be set to "SHA512" by running the following command as a superuser: # sudo grep -q '^.ENCRYPT_METHOD' /etc/login.defs && sudo sed -i 's/^.ENCRYPT_METHOD.*/ENCRYPT_METHOD SHA512/' /etc/login.defs \|\| sudo echo 'ENCRYPT_METHOD SHA512' >> /etc/login.defs