SV-230497r1069313: RHEL 8 must disable the transparent inter-process communication (TIPC) protocol. | Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 STIG SCAP Benchmark

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Assessment Title

Rule Text

RHEL 8 must disable the transparent inter-process communication (TIPC) protocol.

Description

Discussion Text

It is detrimental for operating systems to provide, or install by default, functionality exceeding requirements or mission objectives. These unnecessary capabilities or services are often overlooked and therefore may remain unsecured. They increase the risk to the platform by providing additional attack vectors. Failing to disconnect unused protocols can result in a system compromise. The Transparent Inter-Process Communication (TIPC) protocol is designed to provide communications between nodes in a cluster. Disabling TIPC protects the system against exploitation of any flaws in its implementation.

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

IA Controls

NIST SP 800-53

Not mappedCCI-000381

References

DPMS Target Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 DISA DPMS Target Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 2921

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.rhel8os:def:230497
# RHEL 8 must disable the transparent inter-process communication (TIPC) protocol.
# Per-module read mechanism curated from static teardown of DISA's SCC tool
# (SCAP Compliance Checker) -- see the SCC Automation Reference above.

# /etc/modprobe.d contains a file that contains 'install tipc /bin/false'
# textfilecontent54_object (textfilecontent54_test)
test_1() {
  grep -rqP --include='*' '^[ \t]*install[ \t]+tipc[ \t]+/bin/false[ \t]*$' '/etc/modprobe.d' &>/dev/null
}
# /etc/modprobe.d contains a file that contains 'blacklist tipc'
# textfilecontent54_object (textfilecontent54_test)
test_2() {
  grep -rqP --include='*' '^[ \t]*blacklist[ \t]+tipc[ \t]*$' '/etc/modprobe.d' &>/dev/null
}

if ( test_1 && test_2 ); 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.rhel8os:def:230497

if [ ! -d "/etc/modprobe.d" ]; then echo "PASS"; exit 0; fi
if [ "$(grep -c "^[ \t]*install[ \t]+tipc[ \t]+/bin/false[ \t]*$" /etc/modprobe.d/*)" -ge "1" ] && \
   [ "$(grep -c "^[ \t]*blacklist[ \t]+tipc[ \t]*$" /etc/modprobe.d/*)" -ge "1" ]; then echo "PASS"; exit 0; fi
echo "FAIL"; exit 1

Remediation

Configure the operating system to disable the ability to use the TIPC protocol kernel module.

Add or update the following lines in the file "/etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf":

     install tipc /bin/false
     blacklist tipc

Reboot the system for the settings to take effect.