5.3.35 Ensure SSH X11UseLocalhost is enabled

Information

The Linux operating system SSH daemon must prevent remote hosts from connecting to the proxy display

Rationale:

When X11 forwarding is enabled, there may be additional exposure to the server and client displays if the sshd proxy display is configured to listen on the wildcard address. By default, sshd binds the forwarding server to the loopback address and sets the hostname part of the DIPSLAY environment variable to localhost. This prevents remote hosts from connecting to the proxy display.

Solution

Configure the SSH daemon to prevent remote hosts from connecting to the proxy display.
Edit the '/etc/ssh/sshd_config' file to uncomment or add the line for the 'X11UseLocalhost' keyword and set its value to 'yes' (this file may be named differently or be in a different location if using a version of SSH that is provided by a third-party vendor):

X11UseLocalhost yes

See Also

https://workbench.cisecurity.org/files/3636

Item Details

Category: CONFIGURATION MANAGEMENT

References: 800-53|CM-6b., CCI|CCI-000366, CSCv7|9.2, Rule-ID|SV-233307r603301_rule, STIG-ID|RHEL-07-040711

Plugin: Unix

Control ID: 8ccc9ca5b98add282c6b481ce50bdcc92c654faa21fd2345609d8fc48eb57791