RHEL 10 must be configured to disable USB mass storage.
Overview
| Finding ID | Version | Rule ID | IA Controls | Severity |
| V-281288 | RHEL-10-700850 | SV-281288r1166816_rule | CCI-000778 | medium |
| Description | ||||
| USB mass storage permits easy introduction of unknown devices, thereby facilitating malicious activity. Satisfies: SRG-OS-000114-GPOS-00059, SRG-OS-000378-GPOS-00163 | ||||
| STIG | Date | |||
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 Security Technical Implementation Guide | 2026-03-11 | |||
Details
Check Text (C-281288r1166816_chk)
Verify RHEL 10 disables the ability to load the USB Storage kernel module with the following command:
$ sudo grep -rs usb-storage /etc/modprobe.conf /etc/modprobe.d/*
/etc/modprobe.d/usb-storage.conf:install usb-storage /bin/false
/etc/modprobe.d/usb-storage.conf:blacklist usb-storage
If the command does not return any output, or either line is commented out, and use of USB Storage is not documented with the information system security officer as an operational requirement, this is a finding.
Fix Text (F-85754r1166815_fix)
Configure RHEL 10 to prevent the usb-storage kernel module from being loaded.
Add the following lines to the file "/etc/modprobe.d/usb-storage.conf" (or create "usb-storage.conf" if it does not exist):
$ sudo vi /etc/modprobe.d/usb-storage.conf
install usb-storage /bin/false
blacklist usb-storage