STIGUI
V-282704CAT II — Medium severitySV-282704r1201359_rule

TOSS 5 must not forward Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) source-routed packets by default.

Rule version TOSS-05-000232 · STIG v1 · 2026-08-20

Discussion

Source-routed packets allow the source of the packet to suggest that routers forward the packet along a different path than configured on the router, which can be used to bypass network security measures. This requirement applies only to the forwarding of source-routed traffic, such as when forwarding is enabled and the system is functioning as a router.

Accepting source-routed packets in the IPv6 protocol has few legitimate uses. It must be disabled unless it is absolutely required.

Check

Verify TOSS 5 does not accept IPv6 source-routed packets by default.

Note: If IPv6 is disabled on the system, this requirement is not applicable.

Check the value of the accept source route variable using the following command:

$ sudo sysctl net.ipv6.conf.default.accept_source_route

net.ipv6.conf.default.accept_source_route = 0

If the returned line does not have a value of "0", or a line is not returned, this is a finding.

Fix

Configure TOSS 5 to not forward IPv6 source-routed packets by default.

Add or edit the following line in a single system configuration file, in the "/etc/sysctl.d/" directory:

net.ipv6.conf.default.accept_source_route = 0

Load settings from all system configuration files using the following command:

$ sudo sysctl --system

Identifiers

Group ID
V-282704
Group title
SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227
Rule ID
SV-282704r1201359_rule
Check ID
C-87265r1201090_chk
Fix ID
F-87170r1201091_fix