DISA STIGS Viewer

RHEL 9 must be configured to disable USB mass storage.

Overview

Finding ID Version Rule ID IA Controls Severity
V-258034 RHEL-09-291010 SV-258034r1051267_rule   Medium
Description
USB mass storage permits easy introduction of unknown devices, thereby facilitating malicious activity. Satisfies: SRG-OS-000114-GPOS-00059, SRG-OS-000378-GPOS-00163, SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227
STIG Date
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 Security Technical Implementation Guide 2024-12-04

Details

Check Text (C-61775r1051266_chk)
Verify that RHEL 9 disables the ability to load the USB Storage kernel module with the following command:

$ grep -r usb-storage /etc/modprobe.conf /etc/modprobe.d/*

install usb-storage /bin/false
blacklist usb-storage

If the command does not return any output, or either line is commented out, and use of USB Storage is not documented with the information system security officer (ISSO) as an operational requirement, this is a finding.
Fix Text (F-61699r1045122_fix)
To configure the system to prevent the usb-storage kernel module from being loaded, add the following lines to the file "/etc/modprobe.d/usb-storage.conf" (or create "usb-storage.conf" if it does not exist):

install usb-storage /bin/false
blacklist usb-storage