RHEL 9 must require users to provide a password for privilege escalation.

STIG ID: RHEL-09-611085  |  SRG: SRG-OS-000373-GPOS-00156 | Severity: medium |  CCI: CCI-002038

Vulnerability Discussion

Without reauthentication, users may access resources or perform tasks for which they do not have authorization.

When operating systems provide the capability to escalate a functional capability, it is critical that the user reauthenticate.

Satisfies: SRG-OS-000373-GPOS-00156, SRG-OS-000373-GPOS-00157, SRG-OS-000373-GPOS-00158

Check

Verify that "/etc/sudoers" has no occurrences of "NOPASSWD" with the following command:

$ sudo grep -ri nopasswd /etc/sudoers /etc/sudoers.d/*

If any occurrences of "NOPASSWD" are returned, this is a finding.

Fix

Configure RHEL 9 to not allow users to execute privileged actions without authenticating with a password.

Remove any occurrence of "NOPASSWD" found in "/etc/sudoers" file or files in the "/etc/sudoers.d" directory.

$ sudo sed -i '/NOPASSWD/ s/^/# /g' /etc/sudoers /etc/sudoers.d/*