RHEL 9 must prevent IPv4 Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) redirect messages from being accepted.
Severity | Group ID | Group Title | Version | Rule ID | Date | STIG Version |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| medium | V-257963 | SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227 | RHEL-09-253040 | SV-257963r991589_rule | 2025-02-27 | 2 |
| 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 must be disabled unless absolutely required. |
| ℹ️ Check |
|---|
| Verify RHEL 9 will not accept IPv4 ICMP redirect messages. Check the value of the default "accept_redirects" variables with the following command: $ sudo sysctl net.ipv4.conf.default.accept_redirects net.ipv4.conf.default.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. Check that the configuration files are present to enable this network parameter. $ sudo /usr/lib/systemd/systemd-sysctl --cat-config | egrep -v '^(#|;)' | grep -F net.ipv4.conf.default.accept_redirects | tail -1 net.ipv4.conf.default.accept_redirects = 0 If "net.ipv4.conf.default.accept_redirects" is not set to "0" or is missing, this is a finding. |
| ✔️ Fix |
|---|
| Configure RHEL 9 to prevent IPv4 ICMP redirect messages from being accepted. Add or edit the following line in a single system configuration file, in the "/etc/sysctl.d/" directory: net.ipv4.conf.default.accept_redirects = 0 Load settings from all system configuration files with the following command: $ sudo sysctl --system |