SV-204624r991589: The Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating system must not have a graphical display manager installed unless approved. | Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 STIG SCAP Benchmark

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Assessment Title

Rule Text

The Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating system must not have a graphical display manager installed unless approved.

Description

Discussion Text

Internet services that are not required for system or application processes must not be active to decrease the attack surface of the system. Graphical display managers have a long history of security vulnerabilities and must not be used unless approved and documented.

How this relates to the STIG checklist: STIG vs SCAP benchmark.

IA Controls

NIST SP 800-53

Not mappedCCI-000366SV-86931V-72307

References

DPMS Target Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 DISA DPMS Target Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 2899

Checks

DISA STIG (Manual Reference)

Verify the system is configured to boot to the command line:

$ systemctl get-default
multi-user.target

If the system default target is not set to "multi-user.target" and the Information System Security Officer (ISSO) lacks a documented requirement for a graphical user interface, this is a finding.

Verify a graphical user interface is not installed:

$ rpm -qa | grep xorg | grep server

Ask the System Administrator if use of a graphical user interface is an operational requirement.

If the use of a graphical user interface on the system is not documented with the ISSO, this is a finding.

SCC Automation Reference

The reconstructed evaluation script behind this rule's OVAL check(s) — every module a compound check combines, with this rule's own concrete values and DISA's SCC tool's real per-module mechanism curated from static teardown of SCC releases.

#!/bin/bash
# Reconstructed from oval:mil.disa.stig.rhel7:def:1305
# The Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating system must not have a graphical display manager installed unless approved.
# Per-module read mechanism curated from static teardown of DISA's SCC tool
# (SCAP Compliance Checker) -- see the SCC Automation Reference above.

# package xorg-x11-server-common is removed
# rpminfo_object (rpminfo_test)
test_1() {
  ! ( rpm -q --quiet 'xorg-x11-server-common' &>/dev/null )
}

if test_1; then
  echo "PASS"
else
  echo "FAIL"
fi

Assessment Script Powered by AISandbox-executed

A standalone Shell script to assess this control automatically. Review before running it in your environment.

Syntax-checked and actually executed in an isolated sandbox (not the real system this checks) — confirmed to run without errors.

#!/bin/sh
# OVAL Definition: oval:mil.disa.stig.rhel7:def:1305
if [ ! -f "/usr/share/package-manager-hooks/rpm-remove-xorg" ]; then echo "PASS"; exit 0; fi
if [ ! -e "$(command -v systemctl)" ] || [ ! -e "$(command -v yum)" ]; then echo "FAIL"; exit 1; fi
if rpm -q xorg-x11-server-common > /dev/null 2>&1; then echo "FAIL"; exit 1; fi
echo "PASS"; exit 0

Remediation

Document the requirement for a graphical user interface with the ISSO or reinstall the operating system without the graphical user interface. If reinstallation is not feasible, then continue with the following procedure:

Open an SSH session and enter the following commands:

$ sudo systemctl set-default multi-user.target

$ sudo yum remove xorg-x11-server-Xorg xorg-x11-server-common xorg-x11-server-utils

A reboot is required for the changes to take effect.