The Photon operating system must configure Secure Shell (SSH) to perform strict mode checking of home directory configuration files.

Overview

Finding ID	Version	Rule ID	IA Controls	Severity
V-258876	PHTN-40-000213	SV-258876r933689_rule		Medium

Description
If other users have access to modify user-specific SSH configuration files, they may be able to log on to the system as another user.

STIG	Date
VMware vSphere 8.0 vCenter Appliance Photon OS 4.0 Security Technical Implementation Guide	2023-10-29

Details

Check Text ( C-62616r933687_chk )
At the command line, run the following command to verify the running configuration of sshd: # sshd -T|&grep -i StrictModes Example result: strictmodes yes If "StrictModes" is not set to "yes", this is a finding.

Fix Text (F-62525r933688_fix)
Navigate to and open: /etc/ssh/sshd_config Ensure the "StrictModes" line is uncommented and set to the following: StrictModes yes At the command line, run the following command: # systemctl restart sshd.service