Guide to the Secure Configuration of Debian release 8 (Jessie)
Providing system administrators with such guidance informs them how to securely configure systems under their control in a variety of network roles. Policy makers and baseline creators can use this catalog of settings, with its associated references to higher-level security control catalogs, in order to assist them in security baseline creation. This guide is a catalog, not a checklist, and satisfaction of every item is not likely to be possible or sensible in many operational scenarios. However, the XCCDF format enables granular selection and adjustment of settings, and their association with OVAL and OCIL content provides an automated checking capability. Transformations of this document, and its associated automated checking content, are capable of providing baselines that meet a diverse set of policy objectives. Some example XCCDF Profiles, which are selections of items that form checklists and can be used as baselines, are available with this guide. They can be processed, in an automated fashion, with tools that support the Security Content Automation Protocol (SCAP).
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Revision History
Current version: 0.1.30
- draft (as of 2016-07-11)
Platforms
- cpe:/o:debianproject:debian:8
Table of Contents
- Remediation functions used by the SCAP Security Guide Project
- Introduction
- System
- Hardening the filesystem
- Configure Syslog
- Verify Permissions on Important Files and Directories
- Restrict Programs from Dangerous Execution Patterns
- Permissions
- Service management
Checklist
Remediation functions used by the SCAP Security Guide ProjectgroupXCCDF form of the various remediation functions as used by remediation scripts from the SCAP Security Guide Project |
IntroductiongroupThe purpose of this guidance is to provide security configuration recommendations and baselines for the Debian operating system. Recommended settings for the basic operating system are provided, as well as for many network services that the system can provide to other systems. The guide is intended for system administrators. Readers are assumed to possess basic system administration skills for Unix-like systems, as well as some familiarity with Debian's documentation and administration conventions. Some instructions within this guide are complex. All directions should be followed completely and with understanding of their effects in order to avoid serious adverse effects on the system and its security. |
General PrinciplesgroupThe following general principles motivate much of the advice in this guide and should also influence any configuration decisions that are not explicitly covered. |
Encrypt Transmitted Data Whenever PossiblegroupData transmitted over a network, whether wired or wireless, is susceptible to passive monitoring. Whenever practical solutions for encrypting such data exist, they should be applied. Even if data is expected to be transmitted only over a local network, it should still be encrypted. Encrypting authentication data, such as passwords, is particularly important. Networks of Debian machines can and should be configured so that no unencrypted authentication data is ever transmitted between machines. |
Minimize Software to Minimize VulnerabilitygroupThe simplest way to avoid vulnerabilities in software is to avoid installing that software. On Debian, the Package Manager (originally apt https://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/debian-faq/ch-pkgtools.en.html) allows for careful management of the set of software packages installed on a system. Installed software contributes to system vulnerability in several ways. Packages that include setuid programs may provide local attackers a potential path to privilege escalation. Packages that include network services may give this opportunity to network-based attackers. Packages that include programs which are predictably executed by local users (e.g. after graphical login) may provide opportunities for trojan horses or other attack code to be run undetected. The number of software packages installed on a system can almost always be significantly pruned to include only the software for which there is an environmental or operational need. |
Run Different Network Services on Separate SystemsgroupWhenever possible, a server should be dedicated to serving exactly one network service. This limits the number of other services that can be compromised in the event that an attacker is able to successfully exploit a software flaw in one network service. |
Configure Security Tools to Improve System RobustnessgroupSeveral tools exist which can be effectively used to improve a system's resistance to and detection of unknown attacks. These tools can improve robustness against attack at the cost of relatively little configuration effort. In particular, this guide recommends and discusses the use of Iptables for host-based firewalling, SELinux for protection against vulnerable services, and a logging and auditing infrastructure for detection of problems. |
Least Privilegegroup
Grant the least privilege necessary for user accounts and software to perform tasks.
For example, |
How to Use This GuidegroupReaders should heed the following points when using the guide. |
Systemgroup |
Hardening the filesystemgroupHardening the filesystem and its usage is an efficient way to ensure an efficient separation of services, data and configurations while ensuring a more precise management of filesystem level access rights, enabling deactivation of some specific rights at the filesystem level. Moreover, the Linux Virtual file system support various hardening mechanisms that can be set using sysctl. |
PartitioninggroupSeparating various locations of the file systems in different partitions allows a more restrictive segregation, distinctly from one location to another. Moreover, some native restrictions can be made by partitioning, such as no hard link between different filesystems, and reduce the corruption impact to the affected filesystem instead of the entire system. The last gain is to allow a differenciated usage of storage media, depending on the operational needs (speed, resilience, etc.). references: Filesystem Hierarchy Standard |
filesystem rights managementgroupAdding filesystem specific hardening seriously limits various exploitation vectors based on filesystem invalid usage, such as invalid file types in invalid places (devices or setuid root files in external media, executable file in insecure filesystems, etc.). Some of these hardening require an efficient system partitioning. |
Configure SysloggroupThe syslog service has been the default Unix logging mechanism for
many years. It has a number of downsides, including inconsistent log format,
lack of authentication for received messages, and lack of authentication,
encryption, or reliable transport for messages sent over a network. However,
due to its long history, syslog is a de facto standard which is supported by
almost all Unix applications.
|
Ensure Proper Configuration of Log Filesgroup
The file auth,authpriv.* /var/log/auth.log *.*;auth,authpriv.none -/var/log/syslog daemon.* -/var/log/daemon.log kern.* -/var/log/kern.log lpr.* -/var/log/lpr.log mail.* -/var/log/mail.log user.* -/var/log/user.log mail.info -/var/log/mail.info mail.warn -/var/log/mail.warn mail.err /var/log/mail.err news.crit /var/log/news/news.crit news.err /var/log/news/news.err news.notice -/var/log/news/news.noticeSee the man page rsyslog.conf(5) for more information.
Note that the rsyslog daemon is configured to use traditional timestamping
to be understood by any log processing program. For high precision timestamping,
comment the following line in /etc/rsyslog.conf :
$ ActionFileDefaultTemplate RSYSLOG_TraditionalFileFormat |
Ensure All Logs are Rotated by logrotategroupEdit the file /var/log/messages /var/log/secure /var/log/maillog /var/log/spooler \ /var/log/boot.log /var/log/cron {Edit this line so that it contains a one-space-separated listing of each log file referenced in /etc/rsyslog.conf .
All logs in use on a system must be rotated regularly, or the log files will consume disk space over time, eventually interfering with system operation. The file /etc/logrotate.d/syslog is the
configuration file used by the logrotate program to maintain all
log files written by syslog . By default, it rotates logs weekly and
stores four archival copies of each log. These settings can be
modified by editing /etc/logrotate.conf , but the defaults are
sufficient for purposes of this guide.
Note that logrotate is run nightly by the cron job
/etc/cron.daily/logrotate . If particularly active logs need to be
rotated more often than once a day, some other mechanism must be
used. |
Verify Permissions on Important Files and DirectoriesgroupPermissions for many files on a system must be set restrictively to ensure sensitive information is properly protected. This section discusses important permission restrictions which can be verified to ensure that no harmful discrepancies have arisen. |
Verify permissions on files containing sensitive informations about the systemgroupVarious files contains sensitive informations that can leads to specific weaknesses or give structural informations for local exploits. |
Verify Permissions on Files with Local Account Information and CredentialsgroupThe default restrictive permissions for files which act as
important security databases such as |
Restrict Programs from Dangerous Execution PatternsgroupThe recommendations in this section are designed to ensure that the system's features to protect against potentially dangerous program execution are activated. These protections are applied at the system initialization or kernel level, and defend against certain types of badly-configured or compromised programs. |
Disable Core DumpsgroupA core dump file is the memory image of an executable
program when it was terminated by the operating system due to
errant behavior. In most cases, only software developers
legitimately need to access these files. The core dump files may
also contain sensitive information, or unnecessarily occupy large
amounts of disk space.
|
Enable ExecShieldgroupExecShield describes kernel features that provide
protection against exploitation of memory corruption errors such as buffer
overflows. These features include random placement of the stack and other
memory regions, prevention of execution in memory that should only hold data,
and special handling of text buffers. These protections are enabled by default
on 32-bit systems and controlled through |
Permissionsgroup |
Service managementgroup
The following sections contain information on security-relevant choices about
software services that may be installed or blacklisted on your system. |
Deprecated servicesgroupSome deprecated software services impact the overall system security due to their behavior (leak of confidentiality in network exchange, usage as uncontrolled communication channel, risk associated with the service due to its old age, etc. |
Generic required servicesgroupSome services need to be deployed in order to ensure basic verifications and reporting on GNU/Linux operating systems. Each of these service take part in the administrability of the system. |
SSH ServergroupThe SSH protocol is recommended for remote access (remote login and secure remote file transfer).
SSH provides both confidentiality and integrity for exchanged data but needs to be configured properly in term of: |
Configure OpenSSH Server if deployedgroupIf the system needs to act as an SSH server, then
certain changes should be made to the OpenSSH daemon configuration
file |