Ensure sshd UsePAM is enabled

MediumLevel 1Automatedlinux

Description

The UsePAM directive enables the Pluggable Authentication Module (PAM) interface. If set to yes this will enable PAM authentication using ChallengeResponseAuthentication and PasswordAuthentication directives in addition to PAM account and session module processing for all authentication types.

How it is checked

Audit method: Shell command

shell

alt0() { command -v grep >/dev/null 2>&1 || { echo "step1: grep not installed"; return 1; }; command -v sshd >/dev/null 2>&1 || { echo "step1: sshd not installed"; return 1; }; o=$(bash -c 'sshd -T | grep -i usepam' 2>&1); printf '%s\n' "$o" | tr -s ' \t' '  ' | sed 's/^ //;s/ $//' | grep -Fxq -- 'usepam yes' || { echo step1: missing 'usepam yes'; return 1; }; }; if alt0; then echo compliant; fi

Expected output: compliant

How it is fixed

Fix method: Guidance or infrastructure patch

Edit the /etc/ssh/sshd_config file to set the UsePAM parameter to yes above any Include entries as follows: UsePAM yes

Properties

Operating systems: rocky-9
Tags: cis-convertedlinux
Reference: CIS Rocky Linux 9 Benchmark v3.0.0 - 5.1.23

Check this host

Run this on a machine you are allowed to audit. The scan is read-only.

shell

tmaegis scan --target linux