Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 Security Technical Implementation Guide

The Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 Security Technical Implementation Guide (V2 R10) has 445 STIG checks. New to STIG checklists? Read What is a STIG checklist?, CKL vs CKLB, and STIG vs SCAP benchmark.

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Severity

Version

V2 · R10

CurrentPublished Wed Sep 30 2026

RHEL 9 SSH server configuration files' permissions must not be modified.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 Security Technical Implementation Guide

Assessment Title

Rule Text

RHEL 9 SSH server configuration files' permissions must not be modified.

Description

Discussion Text

Service configuration files enable or disable features of their respective services, that if configured incorrectly, can lead to insecure and vulnerable configurations. Therefore, service configuration files must have correct permissions (owner, group owner, mode) to prevent unauthorized changes.

New to STIG checklists? Read What is a STIG checklist? and CKL vs CKLB.

Objective

V-257999

Rule

SV-257999r1268251_rule

Severity

medium

Rule Version

RHEL-09-255115

Documentable

false

IA Controls

NIST SP 800-53

Rev 5

Assessment Procedure

Check Text

Verify the permissions of the "/etc/ssh/sshd_config" file with the following command:

$ sudo rpm --verify openssh-server | awk '! ($2 == "c" && $1 ~ /^.\..\.\.\.\..\./) {print $0}'

If the command returns any output, this is a finding.

Implementation Procedure

Fix Text

Run the following commands to restore the correct permissions of OpenSSH server configuration files:

$ sudo rpm --setugids openssh-server
$ sudo rpm --setperms openssh-server

STIG check 213 of 445 in the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 STIG checklist

← Previous · V-257998The RHEL 9 SSH server configuration file must be owned by root.Next · V-258000 →RHEL 9 SSH private host key files must have mode 0600 or less permissive.