Skip to content

5.1.2 Ensure permissions on SSH private host key files are configured

Audit#

Run the following script to verify SSH private host key files are owned by the root user and either: - owned by the group root and mode 0600 or more restrictive ** - OR - - owned by the group designated to own openSSH private keys and mode 0640** or more restrictive

#!/usr/bin/env bash
{
a_output=(); a_output2=()
l_ssh_group_name="$(awk -F: '($1 ~ /^(ssh_keys|_?ssh)$/) {print $1}' /etc/group)"
f_file_chk()
{
while IFS=: read -r l_file_mode l_file_owner l_file_group; do
a_out2=()
[ "$l_file_group" = "$l_ssh_group_name" ] && l_pmask="0137" || l_pmask="0177"
l_maxperm="$( printf '%o' $(( 0777 & ~$l_pmask )) )"
if [ $(( $l_file_mode & $l_pmask )) -gt 0 ]; then
a_out2+=("
Mode: \"$l_file_mode\" should be mode: \"$l_maxperm\" or more restrictive")
fi
if [ "$l_file_owner" != "root" ]; then
a_out2+=("
Owned by: \"$l_file_owner\" should be owned by \"root\"")
fi
if [[ ! "$l_file_group" =~ ($l_ssh_group_name|root) ]]; then
a_out2+=("
Owned by group \"$l_file_group\" should be group owned by: \"$l_ssh_group_name\" or \"root\"")
fi
if [ "${#a_out2[@]}" -gt "0" ]; then
a_output2+=(" - File: \"$l_file\"${a_out2[@]}")
else
a_output+=(" - File: \"$l_file\"" \"Correct: mode: \"$l_file_mode\", owner: \"$l_file_owner\"and group owner: \"$l_file_group\" configured")
fi
done < <(stat -Lc '%#a:%U:%G' "$l_file")
}
while IFS= read -r -d $'\0' l_file; do
if ssh-keygen -lf &>/dev/null "$l_file"; then
file "$l_file" | grep -Piq -- '\bopenssh\h+([^#\n\r]+\h+)?private\h+key\b' && f_file_chk
fi
done < <(find -L /etc/ssh -xdev -type f -print0 2>/dev/null)
if [ "${#a_output2[@]}" -le 0 ]; then
printf '%s\n' "" "- Audit Result:" " ** PASS **" "${a_output[@]}" ""
else
printf '%s\n' "" "- Audit Result:" " ** FAIL **" " - Reason(s) for audit failure:" "${a_output2[@]}"
[ "${#a_output[@]}" -gt 0 ] && printf '%s\n' "" "- Correctly set:" "${a_output[@]}" ""
fi
}

Remediation#

Run the following script to set mode, ownership, and group on the private SSH host key files:

#!/usr/bin/env bash
{
a_output=(); a_output2=(); l_ssh_group_name="$(awk -F: '($1 ~ /^(ssh_keys|_?ssh)$/) {print $1}' /etc/group)"
f_file_access_fix()
{
while IFS=: read -r l_file_mode l_file_owner l_file_group; do
a_out2=()
[ "$l_file_group" = "$l_ssh_group_name" ] && l_pmask="0137" || l_pmask="0177"
l_maxperm="$( printf '%o' $(( 0777 & ~$l_pmask )) )"
if [ $(( $l_file_mode & $l_pmask )) -gt 0 ]; then
a_out2+=("
Mode: \"$l_file_mode\" should be mode: \"$l_maxperm\" or more restrictive" \"updating to mode: \:$l_maxperm\"")
if [ "l_file_group" = "$l_ssh_group_name" ]; then
chmod u-x,g-wx,o-rwx "$l_file"
else
chmod u-x,go-rwx "$l_file"
fi
fi
if [ "$l_file_owner" != "root" ]; then
a_out2+=("
Owned by: \"$l_file_owner\" should be owned by \"root\"" \"Changing ownership to \"root\"")
chown root "$l_file"
fi
if [[ ! "$l_file_group" =~ ($l_ssh_group_name|root) ]]; then
[ -n "$l_ssh_group_name" ] && l_new_group="$l_ssh_group_name" || l_new_group="root"
a_out2+=("
Owned by group \"$l_file_group\" should be group owned by:\"$l_ssh_group_name\" or \"root\"" \"Changing group ownership to \"$l_new_group\"")
chgrp "$l_new_group" "$l_file"
fi
if [ "${#a_out2[@]}" -gt "0" ]; then
a_output2+=(" - File: \"$l_file\"" "${a_out2[@]}")
else
a_output+=(" - File: \"$l_file\"" \"Correct: mode: \"$l_file_mode\", owner: \"$l_file_owner\", and group owner:\"$l_file_group\" configured")
fi
done < <(stat -Lc '%#a:%U:%G' "$l_file")
}
while IFS= read -r -d $'\0' l_file; do
if ssh-keygen -lf &>/dev/null "$l_file"; then
file "$l_file" | grep -Piq -- '\bopenssh\h+([^#\n\r]+\h+)?private\h+key\b' && f_file_access_fix
fi
done < <(find -L /etc/ssh -xdev -type f -print0 2>/dev/null)
if [ "${#a_output2[@]}" -le "0" ]; then
printf '%s\n' "" " - No access changes required" ""
else
printf '%s\n' "" " - Remediation results:" "${a_output2[@]}" ""
fi
}