RHEL 10 must not forward Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) source-routed packets.
Severity | Group ID | Group Title | Version | Rule ID | Date | STIG Version |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| medium | V-281342 | SRG-OS-000420-GPOS-00186 | RHEL-10-800100 | SV-281342r1167176_rule | 2026-03-11 | 1 |
Description
Source-routed packets allow the source of the packet to suggest that routers forward the packet along a different path than configured on the router, which can be used to bypass network security measures. This requirement applies only to the forwarding of source-routed traffic, such as when IPv4 forwarding is enabled and the system is functioning as a router.
Accepting source-routed packets in the IPv4 protocol has few legitimate uses. It must be disabled unless it is absolutely required.
Satisfies: SRG-OS-000420-GPOS-00186, SRG-OS-000142-GPOS-00073
ℹ️ Check
Verify RHEL 10 will not accept IPv4 source-routed packets.
Check the value of the "net.ipv4.conf.all.accept_source_route" variable with the following command:
$ sudo sysctl net.ipv4.conf.all.accept_source_route
net.ipv4.conf.all.accept_source_route = 0
If "net.ipv4.conf.all.accept_source_route" is not set to "0" or is missing, this is a finding.
✔️ Fix
Configure RHEL 10 to ignore IPv4 source-routed packets.
Create a configuration file if it does not already exist:
$ sudo vi /etc/sysctl.d/99-ipv4_accept_source.conf
Add the following line to the file:
net.ipv4.conf.all.accept_source_route = 0
Reload settings from all system configuration files with the following command:
$ sudo sysctl --system