AIX must be configured to only boot from the system boot device.

Severity	Group ID	Group Title	Version	Rule ID	Date	STIG Version
medium	V-215410	SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227	AIX7-00-003112	SV-215410r991589_rule	2024-08-16	3

Description
The ability to boot from removable media is the same as being able to boot into single user or maintenance mode without a password. This ability could allow a malicious user to boot the system and perform changes possibly compromising or damaging the system. It could also allow the system to be used for malicious purposes by a malicious anonymous user.

ℹ️ Check
Determine if the system is configured to boot from devices other than the system startup media by running command: # bootlist -m normal -o The returned values should be "hdisk{x}". If the system is setup to boot from a non-hard disk device, this is a finding. Additionally, ask the SA if the machine is setup for "multi-boot" in the SMS application. If multi-boot is enabled, the firmware will stop at boot time and request which image to boot from the user. If "multi-boot" is enabled, this is a finding.

ℹ️ Check

Determine if the system is configured to boot from devices other than the system startup media by running command: # bootlist -m normal -o The returned values should be "hdisk{x}". If the system is setup to boot from a non-hard disk device, this is a finding. Additionally, ask the SA if the machine is setup for "multi-boot" in the SMS application. If multi-boot is enabled, the firmware will stop at boot time and request which image to boot from the user. If "multi-boot" is enabled, this is a finding.

✔️ Fix
Configure the system to only boot from system startup media: # bootlist -m normal hdisk<x> Set "multi-boot" to "off" in the SMS application.