SLEM-05-212015 - SLEM 5 with Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) implemented must require authentication upon booting into single-user mode and maintenance.

Information

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.

Solution

Note: If the system does not use UEFI, this requirement is not applicable.

Configure SLEM 5 to encrypt the boot password.

Generate an encrypted GRUB bootloader password for root with the following command:

> grub2-mkpasswd-pbkdf2
Enter Password:
Reenter Password:
PBKDF2 hash of your password is grub.pbkdf2.sha512.10000.03255F190F0E2F7B4F0D1C3216012309162F022A7A636771

Using the hash from the output, modify the "/etc/grub.d/40_custom" file and add the following two lines to add a boot password for the root entry:

set superusers="rooty"
password_pbkdf2 root grub.pbkdf2.sha512.03255F190F0E2F7B4F0D1C3216012309162F022A7A636771

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/BOOT/grub.cfg

See Also

https://dl.dod.cyber.mil/wp-content/uploads/stigs/zip/U_SLEM_5_V1R2_STIG.zip

Item Details

Category: ACCESS CONTROL

References: 800-53|AC-3, CAT|I, CCI|CCI-000213, Rule-ID|SV-261268r996298_rule, STIG-ID|SLEM-05-212015, Vuln-ID|V-261268

Plugin: Unix

Control ID: b3832205b3dea3b7376f2d0d61b5ff0c4d4cd8e43059239ad99ed82ab779b095