RHEL 10 must restrict the use of the "su" command.
Overview
| Finding ID | Version | Rule ID | IA Controls | Severity |
| V-281205 | RHEL-10-600500 | SV-281205r1166567_rule | CCI-002038 | medium |
| Description | ||||
| The "su" program allows commands to be run with a substitute user and group ID. It is commonly used to run commands as the root user. Limiting access to such commands is considered a good security practice. Satisfies: SRG-OS-000373-GPOS-00156, SRG-OS-000312-GPOS-00123 | ||||
| STIG | Date | |||
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 Security Technical Implementation Guide | 2026-03-11 | |||
Details
Check Text (C-281205r1166567_chk)
Verify RHEL 10 requires users to be members of the "wheel" group to run "su".
Verify the configuration with the following command:
$ sudo grep pam_wheel /etc/pam.d/su
auth required pam_wheel.so use_uid
If a line for "pam_wheel.so" does not exist or is commented out, this is a finding.
Fix Text (F-85671r1166566_fix)
Configure RHEL 10 to require users to be in the "wheel" group to run the "su" command.
Edit the configuration file:
$ sudo vi /etc/pam.d/su
Add the following lines:
auth required pam_wheel.so use_uid
$ sed '/^[[:space:]]*#[[:space:]]*auth[[:space:]]\+required[[:space:]]\+pam_wheel\.so[[:space:]]\+use_uid$/s/^[[:space:]]*#//' -i /etc/pam.d/su
If necessary, create a "wheel" group and add administrative users to the group.