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-004895,CCI-002038 |  Vulnerability Id: V-258106

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 from the command and have not been documented with the information system security officer (ISSO) as an organizationally defined administrative group utilizing MFA, 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/*
This website is not created by, run, approved, or endorsed by the U.S. Department of Defense. Use at your own risk. This website is created by open-source software.