TMA-COS-5.1.15

Ensure only strong Key Exchange algorithms are used

MediumLevel 1Automatedcos

Description

Key exchange is any method in cryptography by which cryptographic keys are exchanged between two parties, allowing use of a cryptographic algorithm. If the sender and receiver wish to exchange encrypted messages, each must be equipped to encrypt messages to be sent and decrypt messages received Key exchange methods that are considered weak should be removed. A key exchange method may be weak because too few bits are used, or the hashing algorithm is considered too weak. Using weak algorithms could expose connections to man-in-the- middle attacks

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=$(bash -c 'sshd -T | grep kexalgorithms' 2>&1); printf '%s\n' "$o" | tr -s ' \t' '  ' | sed 's/^ //;s/ $//' | grep -Fxq -- 'Weak Key Exchange Algorithms:' || { echo step1: missing 'Weak Key Exchange Algorithms:'; return 1; }; printf '%s\n' "$o" | tr -s ' \t' '  ' | sed 's/^ //;s/ $//' | grep -Fxq -- diffie-hellman-group1-sha1 || { echo step1: missing diffie-hellman-group1-sha1; return 1; }; printf '%s\n' "$o" | tr -s ' \t' '  ' | sed 's/^ //;s/ $//' | grep -Fxq -- diffie-hellman-group14-sha1 || { echo step1: missing diffie-hellman-group14-sha1; return 1; }; printf '%s\n' "$o" | tr -s ' \t' '  ' | sed 's/^ //;s/ $//' | grep -Fxq -- diffie-hellman-group-exchange-sha1 || { echo step1: missing diffie-hellman-group-exchange-sha1; 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 add/modify the KexAlgorithms line to contain a comma separated list of the site approved key exchange algorithms Example: KexAlgorithms curve25519-sha256,curve25519-sha256@libssh.org,diffie-hellman- group14-sha256,diffie-hellman-group16-sha512,diffie-hellman-group18- sha512,ecdh-sha2-nistp521,ecdh-sha2-nistp384,ecdh-sha2-nistp256,diffie- hellman-group-exchange-sha256

Properties

Operating systems: Any
Tags: container-optimized-oscoscrypto
Reference: CIS Google Container-Optimized OS Benchmark v1.2.0 - 5.1.15 Ensure only strong Key Exchange algorithms are used

Check this host

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

shell

tmaegis scan --target cos