AS24-U1-000650 - The Apache web server must set an inactive timeout for sessions.

Information

Leaving sessions open indefinitely is a major security risk. An attacker can easily use an already authenticated session to access the hosted application as the previously authenticated user. By closing sessions after a set period of inactivity, the Apache web server can make certain that those sessions that are not closed through the user logging out of an application are eventually closed. mod_reqtimeout is an Apache module designed to shut down connections from clients taking too long to send their request, as seen in many attacks. This module provides a directive that allows Apache to close the connection if it senses that the client is not sending data quickly enough.

Acceptable values are 5 minutes for high-value applications, 10 minutes for medium-value applications, and 20 minutes for low-value applications.

Solution

Determine the location of the 'HTTPD_ROOT' directory and the 'httpd.conf' file:

# apachectl -V | egrep -i 'httpd_root|server_config_file'
-D HTTPD_ROOT='/etc/httpd'
-D SERVER_CONFIG_FILE='conf/httpd.conf'

Load the 'reqtimeout_module'.

Set the 'RequestReadTimeout' directive to specific values applicable to the website.

Item Details

Audit Name: DISA STIG Apache Server 2.4 Unix Server v3r2 Middleware

Category: ACCESS CONTROL

Plugin: Unix

Control ID: 2e161752c987e850d338388bb02de9d6f2dc308cba64a96c6fc9dab702669672

Detections

Analytics

AS24-U1-000650 - The Apache web server must set an inactive timeout for sessions.

Information

Solution

See Also

Item Details