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The system must log Martian packets.


Overview

Finding ID Version Rule ID IA Controls Severity
V-38528 RHEL-06-000088 SV-50329r2_rule Low
Description
The presence of "martian" packets (which have impossible addresses) as well as spoofed packets, source-routed packets, and redirects could be a sign of nefarious network activity. Logging these packets enables this activity to be detected.
STIG Date
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 Security Technical Implementation Guide 2015-05-26

Details

Check Text ( C-46086r3_chk )
The status of the "net.ipv4.conf.all.log_martians" kernel parameter can be queried by running the following command:

$ sysctl net.ipv4.conf.all.log_martians

The output of the command should indicate a value of "1". If this value is not the default value, investigate how it could have been adjusted at runtime, and verify it is not set improperly in "/etc/sysctl.conf".

$ grep net.ipv4.conf.all.log_martians /etc/sysctl.conf

If the correct value is not returned, this is a finding.
Fix Text (F-43476r1_fix)
To set the runtime status of the "net.ipv4.conf.all.log_martians" kernel parameter, run the following command:

# sysctl -w net.ipv4.conf.all.log_martians=1

If this is not the system's default value, add the following line to "/etc/sysctl.conf":

net.ipv4.conf.all.log_martians = 1