SV-237642r991589: RHEL 8 must use the invoking user's password for privilege escalation when using "sudo". | Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 STIG SCAP Benchmark

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Assessment Title

Rule Text

RHEL 8 must use the invoking user's password for privilege escalation when using "sudo".

Description

Discussion Text

The sudoers security policy requires that users authenticate themselves before they can use sudo. When sudoers requires authentication, it validates the invoking user's credentials. If the rootpw, targetpw, or runaspw flags are defined and not disabled, by default the operating system will prompt the invoking user for the "root" user password. For more information on each of the listed configurations, reference the sudoers(5) manual page.

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

IA Controls

NIST SP 800-53

Not mappedCCI-002227

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:237642
# RHEL 8 must use the invoking user's password for privilege escalation when using "sudo".
# Per-module read mechanism curated from static teardown of DISA's SCC tool
# (SCAP Compliance Checker) -- see the SCC Automation Reference above.

# Defaults !targetpw in /etc/sudoers
# textfilecontent54_object (textfilecontent54_test)
test_1() {
  grep -Pq '^\s*Defaults\s+!targetpw\s*$' '/etc/sudoers' &>/dev/null
}
# Defaults !rootpw in /etc/sudoers
# textfilecontent54_object (textfilecontent54_test)
test_2() {
  grep -Pq '^\s*Defaults\s+!rootpw\s*$' '/etc/sudoers' &>/dev/null
}
# Defaults !runaspw in /etc/sudoers
# textfilecontent54_object (textfilecontent54_test)
test_3() {
  grep -Pq '^\s*Defaults\s+!runaspw\s*$' '/etc/sudoers' &>/dev/null
}
# /etc/sudoers.d included in /etc/sudoers
# textfilecontent54_object (textfilecontent54_test)
test_4() {
  (sed -En 's/^\s*[#@]includedir\s+(\S+)\s*$/\1/p' '/etc/sudoers') | grep -qxF '/etc/sudoers.d'
}
# Defaults !targetpw in /etc/sudoers.d
# textfilecontent54_object (textfilecontent54_test)
test_5() {
  grep -P '^\s*Defaults\s+!targetpw\s*$'  &>/dev/null
}
# Defaults !rootpw in /etc/sudoers.d
# textfilecontent54_object (textfilecontent54_test)
test_6() {
  grep -P '^\s*Defaults\s+!rootpw\s*$'  &>/dev/null
}
# Defaults !runaspw in /etc/sudoers.d
# textfilecontent54_object (textfilecontent54_test)
test_7() {
  grep -P '^\s*Defaults\s+!runaspw\s*$'  &>/dev/null
}

if ( ( test_1 && test_2 && test_3 ) || ( test_4 && test_5 && test_6 && test_7 ) ); 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:237642

if [ ! -f "/etc/sudoers" ]; then
    echo "PASS"
    exit 0
fi

if [ $(grep -c "^\\s*Defaults\\s+!targetpw\\s*$" /etc/sudoers) -ge 1 ] && \
   [ $(grep -c "^\\s*Defaults\\s+!rootpw\\s*$" /etc/sudoers) -ge 1 ] && \
   [ $(grep -c "^\\s*Defaults\\s+!runaspw\\s*$" /etc/sudoers) -ge 1 ]; then
    echo "PASS"
    exit 0
else
    echo "FAIL"
    exit 1
fi

Remediation

Define the following in the Defaults section of the /etc/sudoers file or a configuration file in the /etc/sudoers.d/ directory:
     Defaults !targetpw
     Defaults !rootpw
     Defaults !runaspw

Remove any configurations that conflict with the above from the following locations: 
     /etc/sudoers
     /etc/sudoers.d/