Ensure TCP SYN Cookies is enabled

MediumLevel 1Automatedlinux

Description

When tcp_syncookies is set, the kernel will handle TCP SYN packets normally until the half-open connection queue is full, at which time, the SYN cookie functionality kicks in. SYN cookies work by not using the SYN queue at all. Instead, the kernel simply replies to the SYN with a SYN|ACK, but will include a specially crafted TCP sequence number that encodes the source and destination IP address and port number and the time the packet was sent. A legitimate connection would send the ACK packet of the three way handshake with the specially crafted sequence number. This allows the system to verif

How it is checked

Audit method: Shell command

shell

chk() { p=$1; allowed=" $2 "; case $p in net.ipv6.*) [ -d /proc/sys/net/ipv6 ] || return 0;; esac; v=$(sysctl -n "$p" 2>/dev/null) || { echo "$p: not available"; return 1; }; case "$allowed" in *" $v "*) ;; *) echo "$p is $v (running)"; return 1;; esac; sd=$(readlink -e /lib/systemd/systemd-sysctl || readlink -e /usr/lib/systemd/systemd-sysctl); f=$("$sd" --cat-config 2>/dev/null | grep -Po "^\h*${p//./\.}\h*=\h*\K\H+" | tail -n1); [ -n "$f" ] || { echo "$p is not set in any sysctl configuration file"; return 1; }; case "$allowed" in *" $f "*) ;; *) echo "$p is $f in configuration"; return 1;; esac; }; if chk net.ipv4.tcp_syncookies 1; then echo compliant; fi

Expected output: compliant

How it is fixed

Fix method: Guidance or infrastructure patch

Set the following parameters in /etc/sysctl.conf or a /etc/sysctl.d/* file: net.ipv4.tcp_syncookies = 1 Run the following commands to set the active kernel parameters: # sysctl -w net.ipv4.tcp_syncookies=1 # sysctl -w net.ipv4.route.flush=1

Properties

Operating systems: alinux-2
Tags: cis-convertedkernellinuxsysctl
Reference: CIS Aliyun Linux 2 Benchmark v1.0.0 ARCHIVE - 3.2.8

Check this host

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

shell

tmaegis scan --target linux