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7.1 Ensure mod_ssl and/or mod_nss Is Installed

Information

Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) was developed by Netscape and turned into an open standard and was renamed Transport Layer Security (TLS) as part of the process. TLS is important for protecting communication and can provide authentication of the server and even the client. However, contrary to vendor claims, implementing SSL does NOT directly make your web server more secure! SSL is used to encrypt traffic and therefore does provide confidentiality of private information and users credentials. Keep in mind, however that just because you have encrypted the data in transit does not mean that the data provided by the client is secure while it is on the server. Also, SSL does not protect the web server, as attackers will easily target SSL-Enabled web servers, and the attack will be hidden in the encrypted channel.

The 'mod_ssl' module is the standard, most used module that implements SSL/TLS for Apache. A newer module found on Red Hat systems can be a compliment or replacement for 'mod_ssl' and provides the same functionality plus additional security services. The 'mod_nss' is an Apache module implementation of the Network Security Services (NSS) software from Mozilla, which implements a wide range of cryptographic functions in addition to TLS.

Rationale:

It is best to plan for SSL/TLS implementation from the beginning of any new web server because most web servers have some need for SSL/TLS due to:
- Non-public information submitted that should be protected as it's transmitted to the web server
- Non-public information that is downloaded from the web server
- Users authenticating to some portion of the web server
- Authenticating the web server to ensure users they have reached the real web server and have not been phished or redirected to a bogus site

Solution

Perform either of the following to implement the recommended state:
1. For Apache installations built from source, use the option '--with-ssl=' to specify the openssl path, and the '--enable-ssl' configure option to add the SSL modules to the build. The '--with-included-apr' configure option may be necessary if there are conflicts with the platform version. See the Apache documentation on building from source [http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.2/install.html](http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.2/install.html) for details.

 # ./configure --with-included-apr --with-ssl=$OPENSSL_DIR --enable-ssl

2. For installations using OS packages, it is typically just a matter of ensuring the 'mod_ssl' package is installed. The 'mod_nss' package might also be installed. The following yum command is suitable for Red Hat Linux.

 # yum install mod_ssl

See Also

https://workbench.cisecurity.org/files/2378

Item Details

Category: SYSTEM AND COMMUNICATIONS PROTECTION

References: 800-53|SC-8, CSCv6|14.2, CSCv7|14.4

Plugin: Unix

Control ID: f98556f057aa27afff9409a27700e5a8558ccc1d1725d96f89a07fd961468e5d