A graphical display manager must not be installed on RHEL 9 unless approved.
Overview
| Finding ID | Version | Rule ID | IA Controls | Severity |
| V-257837 | RHEL-09-215070 | SV-257837r1044910_rule | CCI-000366 | medium |
| Description | ||||
| Unnecessary service packages must not be installed to decrease the attack surface of the system. Graphical display managers have a long history of security vulnerabilities and must not be used, unless approved and documented. | ||||
| STIG | Date | |||
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 Security Technical Implementation Guide | 2025-05-14 | |||
Details
Check Text (C-257837r1044910_chk)
Verify that a graphical user interface is not installed with the following command:
$ dnf list --installed "xorg-x11-server-common"
Error: No matching Packages to list
If the "xorg-x11-server-common" package is installed, and the use of a graphical user interface has not been documented with the information system security officer (ISSO) as an operational requirement, this is a finding.
Fix Text (F-61502r925497_fix)
Document the requirement for a graphical user interface with the ISSO or remove all xorg packages with the following command:
Warning: If you are accessing the system through the graphical user interface, change to the multi-user.target with the following command:
$ sudo systemctl isolate multi-user.target
Warning: Removal of the graphical user interface will immediately render it useless. The following commands must not be run from a virtual terminal emulator in the graphical interface.
$ sudo dnf remove "xorg*"
$ sudo systemctl set-default multi-user.target