A RHEL 9 firewall must employ a deny-all, allow-by-exception policy for allowing connections to other systems.

Severity	Group ID	Group Title	Version	Rule ID	Date	STIG Version
medium	V-257937	SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227	RHEL-09-251020	SV-257937r991589_rule	2025-02-27	2

Description
Failure to restrict network connectivity only to authorized systems permits inbound connections from malicious systems. It also permits outbound connections that may facilitate exfiltration of DOD data. RHEL 9 incorporates the "firewalld" daemon, which allows for many different configurations. One of these configurations is zones. Zones can be utilized to a deny-all, allow-by-exception approach. The default "drop" zone will drop all incoming network packets unless it is explicitly allowed by the configuration file or is related to an outgoing network connection.

Description

Failure to restrict network connectivity only to authorized systems permits inbound connections from malicious systems. It also permits outbound connections that may facilitate exfiltration of DOD data. RHEL 9 incorporates the "firewalld" daemon, which allows for many different configurations. One of these configurations is zones. Zones can be utilized to a deny-all, allow-by-exception approach. The default "drop" zone will drop all incoming network packets unless it is explicitly allowed by the configuration file or is related to an outgoing network connection.

ℹ️ Check
Verify the RHEL 9 "firewalld" is configured to employ a deny-all, allow-by-exception policy for allowing connections to other systems with the following commands: $ sudo firewall-cmd --state running $ sudo firewall-cmd --get-active-zones public interfaces: ens33 $ sudo firewall-cmd --info-zone=public \| grep target target: DROP $ sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --info-zone=public \| grep target target: DROP If no zones are active on the RHEL 9 interfaces or if runtime and permanent targets are set to a different option other than "DROP", this is a finding.

ℹ️ Check

Verify the RHEL 9 "firewalld" is configured to employ a deny-all, allow-by-exception policy for allowing connections to other systems with the following commands: $ sudo firewall-cmd --state running $ sudo firewall-cmd --get-active-zones public interfaces: ens33 $ sudo firewall-cmd --info-zone=public | grep target target: DROP $ sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --info-zone=public | grep target target: DROP If no zones are active on the RHEL 9 interfaces or if runtime and permanent targets are set to a different option other than "DROP", this is a finding.

✔️ Fix
Configure the "firewalld" daemon to employ a deny-all, allow-by-exception with the following commands: Start by adding the exceptions that are required for mission functionality to the "drop" zone. If SSH access on port 22 is needed, for example, run the following: "sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-service=ssh --zone=drop" Reload the firewall rules to update the runtime configuration from the "--permanent" changes made above: $ sudo firewall-cmd --reload Set the default zone to the drop zone: $ sudo firewall-cmd --set-default-zone=drop Note: This is a runtime and permanent change. Add any interfaces to the newly modified "drop" zone: $ sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --zone=drop --change-interface=ens33 Reload the firewall rules for changes to take effect: $ sudo firewall-cmd --reload

✔️ Fix

Configure the "firewalld" daemon to employ a deny-all, allow-by-exception with the following commands: Start by adding the exceptions that are required for mission functionality to the "drop" zone. If SSH access on port 22 is needed, for example, run the following: "sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-service=ssh --zone=drop" Reload the firewall rules to update the runtime configuration from the "--permanent" changes made above: $ sudo firewall-cmd --reload Set the default zone to the drop zone: $ sudo firewall-cmd --set-default-zone=drop Note: This is a runtime and permanent change. Add any interfaces to the newly modified "drop" zone: $ sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --zone=drop --change-interface=ens33 Reload the firewall rules for changes to take effect: $ sudo firewall-cmd --reload