RHEL 9 SSHD must accept public key authentication.
Overview
| Finding ID | Version | Rule ID | IA Controls | Severity |
| V-257983 | RHEL-09-255035 | SV-257983r1045024_rule | CCI-000765 | medium |
| Description | ||||
| Without the use of multifactor authentication, the ease of access to privileged functions is greatly increased. Multifactor authentication requires using two or more factors to achieve authentication. A privileged account is defined as an information system account with authorizations of a privileged user. A DOD common access card (CAC) with DOD-approved PKI is an example of multifactor authentication. Satisfies: SRG-OS-000105-GPOS-00052, SRG-OS-000106-GPOS-00053, SRG-OS-000107-GPOS-00054, SRG-OS-000108-GPOS-00055 | ||||
| STIG | Date | |||
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 Security Technical Implementation Guide | 2025-05-14 | |||
Details
Check Text (C-257983r1045024_chk)
Note: If the system administrator demonstrates the use of an approved alternate multifactor authentication method, this requirement is Not Applicable.
Verify that RHEL 9 SSH daemon accepts public key encryption with the following command:
$ sudo /usr/sbin/sshd -dd 2>&1 | awk '/filename/ {print $4}' | tr -d '\r' | tr '\n' ' ' | xargs sudo grep -iH '^\s*pubkeyauthentication'
PubkeyAuthentication yes
If "PubkeyAuthentication" is set to no, the line is commented out, or the line is missing, this is a finding.
Fix Text (F-61648r1045023_fix)
To configure the system, add or modify the following line in "/etc/ssh/sshd_config" or in a file in "/etc/ssh/sshd_config.d".
PubkeyAuthentication yes
Restart the SSH daemon for the settings to take effect:
$ sudo systemctl restart sshd.service