Ensure the Group Used by pam_wheel.so Module Exists on System and is Empty

This page is not yet available in Spanish. We are working on its translation.
If you have any questions or feedback about our current translation project, feel free to reach out to us!

Description

Ensure that the group sugroup referenced by var_pam_wheel_group_for_su variable and used as value for the pam_wheel.so group option exists and has no members. This empty group used by pam_wheel.so in /etc/pam.d/su ensures that no user can run commands with altered privileges through the su command.

Rationale

The su program allows to run commands with a substitute user and group ID. It is commonly used to run commands as the root user. Limiting access to such command is considered a good security practice.

Remediation

Shell script

The following script can be run on the host to remediate the issue.

#!/bin/bash

# Remediation is applicable only in certain platforms
if dpkg-query --show --showformat='${db:Status-Status}\n' 'libpam-runtime' 2>/dev/null | grep -q installed; then

var_pam_wheel_group_for_su='sugroup'


if ! grep -q "^${var_pam_wheel_group_for_su}:[^:]*:[^:]*:[^:]*" /etc/group; then
    groupadd ${var_pam_wheel_group_for_su}
fi

# group must be empty
gpasswd -M '' ${var_pam_wheel_group_for_su}

else
    >&2 echo 'Remediation is not applicable, nothing was done'
fi

Ansible playbook

The following playbook can be run with Ansible to remediate the issue.

- name: Gather the package facts
  package_facts:
    manager: auto
  tags:
  - PCI-DSSv4-2.2
  - PCI-DSSv4-2.2.6
  - ensure_pam_wheel_group_empty
  - low_complexity
  - low_disruption
  - medium_severity
  - no_reboot_needed
  - restrict_strategy
- name: XCCDF Value var_pam_wheel_group_for_su # promote to variable
  set_fact:
    var_pam_wheel_group_for_su: !!str sugroup
  tags:
    - always

- name: Ensure the Group Used by pam_wheel.so Module Exists on System and is Empty
    - Ensure {{ var_pam_wheel_group_for_su }} Group Exists
  ansible.builtin.group:
    name: '{{ var_pam_wheel_group_for_su }}'
    state: present
  when: '"libpam-runtime" in ansible_facts.packages'
  tags:
  - PCI-DSSv4-2.2
  - PCI-DSSv4-2.2.6
  - ensure_pam_wheel_group_empty
  - low_complexity
  - low_disruption
  - medium_severity
  - no_reboot_needed
  - restrict_strategy

- name: Ensure the Group Used by pam_wheel.so Module Exists on System and is Empty
    - Ensure {{ var_pam_wheel_group_for_su }} Group is Empty
  ansible.builtin.lineinfile:
    path: /etc/group
    regexp: ^({{ var_pam_wheel_group_for_su }}:[^:]+:[0-9]+:).*$
    line: \1
    backrefs: true
  when: '"libpam-runtime" in ansible_facts.packages'
  tags:
  - PCI-DSSv4-2.2
  - PCI-DSSv4-2.2.6
  - ensure_pam_wheel_group_empty
  - low_complexity
  - low_disruption
  - medium_severity
  - no_reboot_needed
  - restrict_strategy

Warning

Note that this rule just ensures the group exists and has no members. This rule does not configure pam_wheel.so module. The pam_wheel.so module configuration is accomplished by use_pam_wheel_group_for_su rule.