The Juniper SRX Services Gateway must ensure SSH is disabled for root user logon to prevent remote access using the root account.

Since the identity of the root account is well-known for systems based upon Linux or UNIX and this account does not have a setting to limit access attempts, there is risk of a brute force attack on the password. Root access would give superuser access to an attacker. Preventing attackers from remotely accessing management functions using root account mitigates the risk that unauthorized individuals or processes may gain superuser access to information or privileges.

A separate account should be used for access and then the administrator can sudo to root when necessary.

Use the CLI to view this setting for disabled for SSH.

[edit] show system services ssh root-login

If SSH is not disabled for the root user, this is a finding.

From the configuration mode, enter the following commands to disable root-login using SSH.

[edit] set system services ssh root-login deny