3.6 Disable IPv6

Information

Although IPv6 has many advantages over IPv4, not all organizations have IPv6 or dual stack configurations implemented.

Rationale:

If IPv6 or dual stack is not to be used, it is recommended that IPv6 be disabled to reduce the attack surface of the system.

Solution

Edit /etc/default/grub and add ipv6.disable=1 to the GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX parameters:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX='ipv6.disable=1'

Depending or your distribution, run the appropriate following command to update the grub2 configuration:

# grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/grub2/grub.cfg

or

# update-grub

See Also

https://workbench.cisecurity.org/files/2688

Item Details

Category: SYSTEM AND INFORMATION INTEGRITY

References: 800-53|SI-4, CSCv7|9.2

Plugin: Unix

Control ID: 7b96e38b39870b687b80a65790a417b997702e2854f450d5fe30f16ff93e9d9d