The SUSE operating system SSH daemon must use privilege separation.

Overview

Finding ID	Version	Rule ID	IA Controls	Severity
V-217278	SLES-12-030240	SV-217278r603262_rule		Medium

Description
SSH daemon privilege separation causes the SSH process to drop root privileges when not needed, which would decrease the impact of software vulnerabilities in the unprivileged section.

STIG	Date
SLES 12 Security Technical Implementation Guide	2023-03-06

Details

Check Text ( C-18506r369990_chk )
Determine the version of SSH using the following command: # ssh -V OpenSSH_7.9p1 If the version of SSH is 7.5 or newer, this is Not Applicable. Verify the SUSE operating system SSH daemon is configured to use privilege separation. Check that the SUSE operating system SSH daemon performs privilege separation with the following command: # sudo grep -i usepriv /etc/ssh/sshd_config UsePrivilegeSeparation yes If the "UsePrivilegeSeparation" keyword is not set to "yes" or "sandbox", is missing, or the returned line is commented out, this is a finding.

Check Text ( C-18506r369990_chk )

Determine the version of SSH using the following command:

# ssh -V
OpenSSH_7.9p1

If the version of SSH is 7.5 or newer, this is Not Applicable.

Verify the SUSE operating system SSH daemon is configured to use privilege separation.

Check that the SUSE operating system SSH daemon performs privilege separation with the following command:

# sudo grep -i usepriv /etc/ssh/sshd_config

UsePrivilegeSeparation yes

If the "UsePrivilegeSeparation" keyword is not set to "yes" or "sandbox", is missing, or the returned line is commented out, this is a finding.

Fix Text (F-18504r369991_fix)
Configure the SUSE operating system SSH daemon is configured to use privilege separation. Uncomment the "UsePrivilegeSeparation" keyword in "/etc/ssh/sshd_config" and set the value to "yes" or "sandbox": UsePrivilegeSeparation yes