There must be no shosts.equiv files on the RHEL 8 operating system.

Overview

Finding ID	Version	Rule ID	IA Controls	Severity
V-230283	RHEL-08-010460	SV-230283r1017094_rule		High

Description

The "shosts.equiv" files are used to configure host-based authentication for the system via SSH. Host-based authentication is not sufficient for preventing unauthorized access to the system, as it does not require interactive identification and authentication of a connection request, or for the use of two-factor authentication.

STIG	Date
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 Security Technical Implementation Guide	2024-11-25

Details

Check Text (C-32952r567595_chk)

Verify there are no "shosts.equiv" files on RHEL 8 with the following command:

$ sudo find / -name shosts.equiv

If a "shosts.equiv" file is found, this is a finding.

Fix Text (F-32927r567596_fix)

Remove any found "shosts.equiv" files from the system.

$ sudo rm /etc/ssh/shosts.equiv