Vulnerability Discussion

Even though the communications channel may be encrypted, an additional layer of security is gained by extending the policy of not logging directly on as root. In addition, logging in with a user-specific account provides individual accountability of actions performed on the system and also helps to minimize direct attack attempts on root's password.

Check

Verify that OL 9 remote access using SSH prevents users from logging on directly as "root" with the following command:

$ sudo /usr/sbin/sshd -dd 2>&1 | awk '/filename/ {print $4}' | tr -d '\r' | tr '\n' ' ' | xargs sudo grep -iH '^\s*permitrootlogin'
PermitRootLogin no

If the "PermitRootLogin" keyword is set to "yes", is missing, or is commented out, this is a finding.

Fix

Configure OL 9 to prevent SSH users from logging on directly as root by adding or modifying the following line in "/etc/ssh/sshd_config" or in a file in "/etc/ssh/sshd_config.d".

PermitRootLogin no

Restart the SSH daemon for the settings to take effect:

$ sudo systemctl restart sshd.service