Root passwords must never be passed over a network in clear text form.

From HP-UX 11.31 Security Technical Implementation Guide

Part of GEN001100

Associated with IA controls: IAIA-2, IAIA-1

Associated with: CCI-000197

SV-38240r1_rule Root passwords must never be passed over a network in clear text form.

Vulnerability discussion

If a user accesses the root account (or any account) using an unencrypted connection, the password is passed over the network in clear text form and is subject to interception and misuse. This is true even if recommended procedures are followed by logging on to a named account and using the su command to access root.

Check content

Perform the following to determine if root has logged in over an unencrypted network connection. The first command determines if root has logged in over a network. The second will check to see if the SSH daemon is running. Procedure: # last -R | grep "^root " | egrep -v "reboot|console" | more # ps -ef |grep sshd If the output from the last command shows root has logged in over the network and sshd is not running, this is a finding.

Fix text

Enable SSH on the system and use it for all remote connections used to attain root access.

Pro Tips

Lavender hyperlinks in small type off to the right (of CSS class id, if you view the page source) point to globally unique URIs for each document and item. Copy the link location and paste anywhere you need to talk unambiguously about these things.

You can obtain data about documents and items in other formats. Simply provide an HTTP header Accept: text/turtle or Accept: application/rdf+xml.

Powered by sagemincer