Vulnerability Discussion

Kerberos authentication for SSH is often implemented using Generic Security Service Application Program Interface (GSSAPI). If Kerberos is enabled through SSH, the SSH daemon provides a means of access to the system's Kerberos implementation. Vulnerabilities in the system's Kerberos implementations may be subject to exploitation.

OpenSSH uses the first occurrence of a keyword it sees, and drop-in files are read in lexicographical order at the start of the configuration. Red Hat recommends using drop-in files rather than changing base configuration files.

Check

Verify RHEL 10 SSH daemons do not allow Kerberos authentication 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*kerberosauthentication'
/etc/ssh/sshd_config.d/10-stig.conf:KerberosAuthentication no

Verify the runtime setting with the following command:

$ sudo sshd -T | grep -i kerberosauthentication
kerberosauthentication no

If the "KerberosAuthentication" keyword is not set to "no" in a drop-in that lexicographically precedes 50-redhat.conf, no output is returned, and the use of Kerberos authentication has not been documented with the information system security officer, this is a finding.

Fix

Configure RHEL 10 SSH daemons to not allow Kerberos authentication.

In "/etc/ssh/sshd_config.d", create a drop file that will lexicographically precede 50-redhat.conf and add the following line:

KerberosAuthentication no

Restart the SSH service with the following command for the changes to take effect:

$ sudo systemctl restart sshd.service