RHEL 9 must be configured to disable USB mass storage.
Severity | Group ID | Group Title | Version | Rule ID | Date | STIG Version |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| medium | V-258034 | SRG-OS-000114-GPOS-00059 | RHEL-09-291010 | SV-258034r1051267_rule | 2026-02-05 | 2 |
Description
USB mass storage permits easy introduction of unknown devices, thereby facilitating malicious activity.
Satisfies: SRG-OS-000114-GPOS-00059, SRG-OS-000378-GPOS-00163, SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227
ℹ️ Check
Verify that RHEL 9 disables the ability to load the USB Storage kernel module with the following command:
$ grep -r usb-storage /etc/modprobe.conf /etc/modprobe.d/*
install usb-storage /bin/false
blacklist usb-storage
If the command does not return any output, or either line is commented out, and use of USB Storage is not documented with the information system security officer (ISSO) as an operational requirement, this is a finding.
✔️ Fix
To configure the system to prevent the usb-storage kernel module from being loaded, add the following lines to the file "/etc/modprobe.d/usb-storage.conf" (or create "usb-storage.conf" if it does not exist):
install usb-storage /bin/false
blacklist usb-storage