STIGUI
V-252662CAT II — Medium severitySV-252662r1156635_rule

OL 8 must not enable IPv4 packet forwarding unless the system is a router.

Rule version OL08-00-040259 · STIG v2 · 2026-08-24

Discussion

Routing protocol daemons are typically used on routers to exchange network topology information with other routers. If this software is used when not required, system network information may be unnecessarily transmitted across the network.

The sysctl --system command will load settings from all system configuration files. All configuration files are sorted by their filename in lexicographical order, regardless of the directories in which they reside. If multiple files specify the same option, the entry in the file with the lexicographically latest name will take precedence. Files are read from directories in the following list from top to bottom. Once a file of a given filename is loaded, any file of the same name in subsequent directories is ignored. /etc/sysctl.d/*.conf /run/sysctl.d/*.conf /usr/local/lib/sysctl.d/*.conf /usr/lib/sysctl.d/*.conf /lib/sysctl.d/*.conf /etc/sysctl.conf

Check

Verify OL 8 is not performing IPv4 packet forwarding, unless the system is a router.

Check that IPv4 forwarding is disabled using the following command:

$ sysctl net.ipv4.conf.all.forwarding net.ipv4.conf.all.forwarding = 0

If the IPv4 forwarding value is not "0" and is not documented with the information system security officer (ISSO) as an operational requirement, this is a finding.

Fix

Configure OL 8 to not allow IPv4 packet forwarding unless the system is a router.

Add or edit the following line in a single system configuration file in the "/etc/sysctl.d/" directory:

net.ipv4.conf.all.forwarding = 0

Load settings from all system configuration files with the following command:

$ sudo sysctl --system

Identifiers

Group ID
V-252662
Group title
SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227
Rule ID
SV-252662r1156635_rule
Check ID
C-56118r1155481_chk
Fix ID
F-56068r1155482_fix