The Photon operating system must configure Secure Shell (SSH) to limit the number of allowed login attempts per connection.
Severity | Group ID | Group Title | Version | Rule ID | Date | STIG Version |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| medium | V-258882 | SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227 | PHTN-40-000219 | SV-258882r991589_rule | 2024-07-11 | 2 |
Description
By setting the login attempt limit to a low value, an attacker will be forced to reconnect frequently, which severely limits the speed and effectiveness of brute-force attacks.
ℹ️ Check
At the command line, run the following command to verify the running configuration of sshd:
# sshd -T|&grep -i MaxAuthTries
Example result:
maxauthtries 6
If "MaxAuthTries" is not set to "6", this is a finding.
✔️ Fix
Navigate to and open:
/etc/ssh/sshd_config
Ensure the "MaxAuthTries" line is uncommented and set to the following:
MaxAuthTries 6
At the command line, run the following command:
# systemctl restart sshd.service