The Photon operating system must configure Secure Shell (SSH) to disable X11 forwarding.
Severity | Group ID | Group Title | Version | Rule ID | Date | STIG Version |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| medium | V-258875 | SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227 | PHTN-40-000212 | SV-258875r991589_rule | 2024-07-11 | 2 |
Description
X11 is an older, insecure graphics forwarding protocol. It is not used by Photon and should be disabled as a general best practice to limit attack surface area and communication channels.
ℹ️ Check
At the command line, run the following command to verify the running configuration of sshd:
# sshd -T|&grep -i X11Forwarding
Example result:
x11forwarding no
If "X11Forwarding" is not set to "no", this is a finding.
✔️ Fix
Navigate to and open:
/etc/ssh/sshd_config
Ensure the "X11Forwarding" line is uncommented and set to the following:
X11Forwarding no
At the command line, run the following command:
# systemctl restart sshd.service