Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 Security Technical Implementation Guide

The Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 Security Technical Implementation Guide (V2 R9) 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 · R9

ArchivedPublished Wed Jul 01 2026

RHEL 9 must terminate idle user sessions.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 Security Technical Implementation Guide

Assessment Title

Rule Text

RHEL 9 must terminate idle user sessions.

Description

Discussion Text

Terminating an idle session within a short time period reduces the window of opportunity for unauthorized personnel to take control of a management session enabled on the console or console port that has been left unattended.

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

Objective

V-258077

Rule

SV-258077r1155659_rule

Severity

medium

Rule Version

RHEL-09-412080

Documentable

false

IA Controls

NIST SP 800-53

Rev 5

Assessment Procedure

Check Text

Verify RHEL 9 logs out sessions that are idle for 10 minutes with the following command:

$ systemd-analyze cat-config systemd/logind.conf | grep StopIdleSessionSec

#StopIdleSessionSec=infinity
StopIdleSessionSec=600

If "StopIdleSessionSec" is not configured to "600" seconds, this is a finding.

Implementation Procedure

Fix Text

Configure RHEL 9 to log out idle sessions.

Create the directory if necessary:

$ mkdir -p /etc/systemd/logind.conf.d/

Create a *.conf file in /etc/systemd/logind.conf.d/ with the following content:

[Login]
StopIdleSessionSec=600
KillUserProcesses=no

Restart systemd-logind:

$ systemctl restart systemd-logind

STIG check 284 of 445 in the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 STIG checklist

← Previous · V-258075RHEL 9 must define default permissions for the system default profile.Next · V-258078 →RHEL 9 must use a Linux Security Module configured to enforce limits on system services.