Apache HTTP Server
TMA-APACHE-7.3
Ensure the Server's Private Key Is Protected
Description
It is critical to protect the server's private key. The server's private key is encrypted by default as a means of protecting it. However, having it encrypted means that the passphrase is required each time the server is started up, and now it is necessary to protect the passphrase as well. The passphrase may be typed in when it is manually started up or provided by an automated program. Every SSLCertificateKeyFile (and any SSLCertificateFile that embeds a PRIVATE KEY) must be owned by root:root with mode 0400. Reads the main configuration (APACHE_CONF overrides; default /etc/apache2/apache2.conf, /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf or /usr/local/apache2/conf/httpd.conf) and every Include/IncludeOptional file. CIS marks this recommendation Manual; the automated check implements its audit procedure.
How it is checked
Audit method: Shell command
c=${APACHE_CONF:-}; if [ -z "$c" ]; then for f in /etc/apache2/apache2.conf /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf /usr/local/apache2/conf/httpd.conf /etc/apache2/httpd.conf; do [ -f "$f" ] && { c=$f; break; }; done; fi; [ -r "$c" ] || exit 1; R=$(awk 'tolower($1)=="serverroot"{v=$2; gsub(/"/,"",v); print v; exit}' "$c"); [ -n "$R" ] || R=$(dirname "$c"); shopt -s nocasematch; inc(){ local p g l; [ ${#FUNCNAME[@]} -lt 16 ] || return 0; p=$1; case $p in /*) ;; *) p=$R/$p;; esac; [ -d "$p" ] && p="$p/*"; for g in $p; do [ -f "$g" ] || continue; while IFS= read -r l || [ -n "$l" ]; do if [[ $l =~ ^[[:space:]]*include(optional)?[[:space:]]+\"?([^\"[:space:]]+) ]]; then inc "${BASH_REMATCH[2]}"; else printf '%s\n' "$l"; fi; done < "$g"; done; }; cfg=$(inc "$c" | sed -e 's/^[[:space:]]*//' -e '/^#/d' -e '/^$/d'); shopt -u nocasematch; bad=0; n=0; while read -r k f; do f=${f//\"/}; case $f in /*) ;; *) f=$R/$f;; esac; [ -e "$f" ] || continue; if [ "$k" = c ]; then grep -q 'PRIVATE KEY' "$f" 2>/dev/null || continue; fi; n=$((n+1)); o=$(stat -Lc '%U:%G' "$f"); [ "$o" = root:root ] && [ -z "$(find -L "$f" -perm /377)" ] || bad=1; done < <(printf '%s\n' "$cfg" | awk 'tolower($1)=="sslcertificatekeyfile"{print "k", $2} tolower($1)=="sslcertificatefile"{print "c", $2}'); [ "$bad" = 0 ] && echo compliant || echo noncompliant- Expected output
compliant
How it is fixed
Fix method: Guidance or infrastructure patch
chown root:root <keyfile>; chmod 0400 <keyfile> for every SSLCertificateKeyFile.
Properties
- Operating systems
- Any
- Tags
- apachetls
- Reference
- CIS Apache HTTP Server 2.4 Benchmark v2.4.0 - 7.3 Ensure the Server's Private Key Is Protected
Check this host
Run this on a machine you are allowed to audit. The scan is read-only.
tmaegis scan --target apache