There must be no shosts.equiv files on the SUSE operating system.
Severity | Group ID | Group Title | Version | Rule ID | Date | STIG Version |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| high | V-234985 | SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227 | SLES-15-040030 | SV-234985r991589_rule | 2026-02-19 | 2 |
Description
The shosts.equiv files are used to configure host-based authentication for the system via SSH. Host-based authentication is not sufficient for preventing unauthorized access to the system, as it does not require interactive identification and authentication of a connection request, or for the use of two-factor authentication.
ℹ️ Check
Verify there are no "shosts.equiv" files on the SUSE operating system.
Check the system for the existence of these files with the following command:
> sudo find /etc -name shosts.equiv
If any "shosts.equiv" files are found on the system, this is a finding.
✔️ Fix
Remove any "shosts.equiv" files found on the SUSE operating system.
> sudo rm /[path]/[to]/[file]/shosts.equiv