Wireless network adapters must be disabled.

From Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 Security Technical Implementation Guide

Associated with: CCI-001443 CCI-001444 CCI-002418

SV-87461r1_rule Wireless network adapters must be disabled.

Vulnerability discussion

The use of wireless networking can introduce many different attack vectors into the organization’s network. Common attack vectors such as malicious association and ad hoc networks will allow an attacker to spoof a wireless access point (AP), allowing validated systems to connect to the malicious AP and enabling the attacker to monitor and record network traffic. These malicious APs can also serve to create a man-in-the-middle attack or be used to create a denial of service to valid network resources.

Check content

This is N/A for systems that do not have wireless network adapters. Verify that there are no wireless interfaces configured on the system: # ifconfig -a eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr b8:ac:6f:65:31:e5 inet addr:192.168.2.100 Bcast:192.168.2.255 Mask:255.255.255.0 inet6 addr: fe80::baac:6fff:fe65:31e5/64 Scope:Link UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1 RX packets:2697529 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0 TX packets:2630541 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0 collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 RX bytes:2159382827 (2.0 GiB) TX bytes:1389552776 (1.2 GiB) Interrupt:17 lo Link encap:Local Loopback inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0 inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1 RX packets:2849 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0 TX packets:2849 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0 collisions:0 txqueuelen:0 RX bytes:2778290 (2.6 MiB) TX bytes:2778290 (2.6 MiB) If a wireless interface is configured, it must be documented and approved by the local Authorizing Official. If a wireless interface is configured and has not been documented and approved, this is a finding.

Fix text

Configure the system to disable all wireless network interfaces.

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.