RHEL 8 must automatically lock graphical user sessions after 15 minutes of inactivity.

Severity	Group ID	Group Title	Version	Rule ID	Date	STIG Version
medium	V-230352	SRG-OS-000029-GPOS-00010	RHEL-08-020060	SV-230352r1155401_rule	2025-11-24	2

Description
A session lock is a temporary action taken when a user stops work and moves away from the immediate physical vicinity of the information system but does not want to log out because of the temporary nature of the absence. The session lock is implemented at the point where session activity can be determined. Rather than be forced to wait for a period of time to expire before the user session can be locked, RHEL 8 needs to provide users with the ability to manually invoke a session lock so users can secure their session if it is necessary to temporarily vacate the immediate physical vicinity. Satisfies: SRG-OS-000029-GPOS-00010, SRG-OS-000031-GPOS-00012

Description

A session lock is a temporary action taken when a user stops work and moves away from the immediate physical vicinity of the information system but does not want to log out because of the temporary nature of the absence. The session lock is implemented at the point where session activity can be determined. Rather than be forced to wait for a period of time to expire before the user session can be locked, RHEL 8 needs to provide users with the ability to manually invoke a session lock so users can secure their session if it is necessary to temporarily vacate the immediate physical vicinity. Satisfies: SRG-OS-000029-GPOS-00010, SRG-OS-000031-GPOS-00012

ℹ️ Check
Verify RHEL 8 initiates a session lock after a 15-minute period of inactivity for graphical user interfaces with the following command: Note: This requirement assumes the use of the RHEL 8 default graphical user interface, the GNOME desktop environment. If the system does not have any graphical user interface installed, this requirement is Not Applicable. $ sudo gsettings get org.gnome.desktop.session idle-delay uint32 900 If "idle-delay" is set to "0" or a value greater than "900", this is a finding.

ℹ️ Check

Verify RHEL 8 initiates a session lock after a 15-minute period of inactivity for graphical user interfaces with the following command: Note: This requirement assumes the use of the RHEL 8 default graphical user interface, the GNOME desktop environment. If the system does not have any graphical user interface installed, this requirement is Not Applicable. $ sudo gsettings get org.gnome.desktop.session idle-delay uint32 900 If "idle-delay" is set to "0" or a value greater than "900", this is a finding.

✔️ Fix
Configure RHEL 8 to initiate a screensaver after a 15-minute period of inactivity for graphical user interfaces. Create a database to contain the systemwide screensaver settings (if it does not already exist) with the following command: $ sudo touch /etc/dconf/db/local.d/00-screensaver Edit /etc/dconf/db/local.d/00-screensaver and add or update the following lines: [org/gnome/desktop/session] # Set the lock time out to 900 seconds before the session is considered idle idle-delay=uint32 900 Update the system databases: $ sudo dconf update

✔️ Fix

Configure RHEL 8 to initiate a screensaver after a 15-minute period of inactivity for graphical user interfaces. Create a database to contain the systemwide screensaver settings (if it does not already exist) with the following command: $ sudo touch /etc/dconf/db/local.d/00-screensaver Edit /etc/dconf/db/local.d/00-screensaver and add or update the following lines: [org/gnome/desktop/session] # Set the lock time out to 900 seconds before the session is considered idle idle-delay=uint32 900 Update the system databases: $ sudo dconf update