SUSE operating systems with Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) implemented must require authentication upon booting into single-user mode and maintenance.
Overview
| Finding ID | Version | Rule ID | IA Controls | Severity |
| V-217145 | SLES-12-010440 | SV-217145r958472_rule | CCI-000213 | medium |
| Description | ||||
| If the system allows a user to boot into single-user or maintenance mode without authentication, any user that invokes single-user or maintenance mode is granted privileged access to all system information. If the system is running in EFI mode, SLES 12 by default will use GRUB 2 EFI as the boot loader. | ||||
| STIG | Date | |||
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 Security Technical Implementation Guide | 2025-05-14 | |||
Details
Check Text (C-217145r958472_chk)
Verify that the SUSE operating system has set an encrypted boot password.
Note: If the system does not use Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) this requirement is Not Applicable.
Check that the encrypted password is set for a boot user with the following command:
# sudo cat /boot/efi/EFI/sles/grub.cfg | grep -i password
password_pbkdf2 boot grub.pbkdf2.sha512.10000.VeryLongString
If the boot user password entry does not begin with "password_pbkdf2", this is a finding.
Fix Text (F-18371r369592_fix)
Note: If the system does not use UEFI, this requirement is Not Applicable.
Configure the SUSE operating system to encrypt the boot password.
Generate an encrypted (GRUB 2) password for a boot user with the following command:
# sudo grub2-mkpasswd-pbkdf2
Enter Password:
Reenter Password:
PBKDF2 hash of your password is grub.pbkdf2.sha512.10000.MFU48934NJD84NF8NSD39993JDHF84NG
Using the hash from the output, modify the "/etc/grub.d/40_custom" file with the following command to add a boot password for the root entry:
# cat << EOF
set superusers="boot"
password_pbkdf2 boot grub.pbkdf2.sha512.VeryLongString
EOF
Generate an updated "grub.conf" file with the new password using the following commands:
# sudo grub2-mkconfig --output=/tmp/grub2.cfg
# sudo mv /tmp/grub2.cfg /boot/efi/EFI/sles/grub.cfg