RHEL-06-000228 - The Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating system must be configured so that the SSH daemon is configured to only use Message Authentication Codes (MACs) employing FIPS 140-2 approved cryptographic hash algorithms.

Information

DoD information systems are required to use FIPS 140-2 approved cryptographic hash functions. The only SSHv2 hash algorithm meeting this requirement is SHA.

By specifying a hash algorithm list with the order of hashes being in a 'strongest to weakest' orientation, the system will automatically attempt to use the strongest hash for securing SSH connections.

Solution

Edit the '/etc/ssh/sshd_config' file to uncomment or add the line for the 'MACs' keyword and set its value to 'hmac-sha2-512' and/or 'hmac-sha2-256' (this file may be named differently or be in a different location if using a version of SSH that is provided by a third-party vendor):

MACs hmac-sha2-512,hmac-sha2-256

The SSH service must be restarted for changes to take effect.
# sudo service sshd restart

See Also

https://dl.dod.cyber.mil/wp-content/uploads/stigs/zip/U_RHEL_6_V2R2_STIG.zip

Item Details

Category: ACCESS CONTROL

References: 800-53|AC-17(2), CAT|II, CCI|CCI-001453, Rule-ID|SV-217995r603816_rule, STIG-ID|RHEL-06-000228, STIG-Legacy|SV-109117, STIG-Legacy|V-100013, Vuln-ID|V-217995

Plugin: Unix

Control ID: 71c1f40906b8c0c799b205bfdcd1c1dae37a188a5aaf52c391efc5806b78befd