OL 9 must ignore Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) redirect messages.
Severity | Group ID | Group Title | Version | Rule ID | Date | STIG Version |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| medium | V-271864 | SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227 | OL09-00-006020 | SV-271864r1092304_rule | 2026-02-17 | 1 |
Description
ICMP redirect messages are used by routers to inform hosts that a more direct route exists for a particular destination. These messages modify the host's route table and are unauthenticated. An illicit ICMP redirect message could result in a man-in-the-middle attack.
This feature of the IPv4 protocol has few legitimate uses. It should be disabled unless absolutely required.
ℹ️ Check
Verify that OL 9 will not accept IPv4 ICMP redirect messages.
Check the value of all "accept_redirects" variables with the following command:
$ sysctl net.ipv4.conf.all.accept_redirects
net.ipv4.conf.all.accept_redirects = 0
If the returned line does not have a value of "0", a line is not returned, or the line is commented out, this is a finding.
✔️ Fix
Configure OL 9 to ignore IPv4 ICMP redirect messages.
Add or edit the following line in a single system configuration file in the "/etc/sysctl.d/" directory:
net.ipv4.conf.all.accept_redirects = 0
Load settings from all system configuration files with the following command:
$ sudo sysctl --system