Disable Modprobe Loading of USB Storage Driver

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Description

To prevent USB storage devices from being used, configure the kernel module loading system to prevent automatic loading of the USB storage driver.

To configure the system to prevent the usb-storage kernel module from being loaded, add the following line to the file /etc/modprobe.d/usb-storage.conf:

install usb-storage /bin/false

This will prevent the modprobe program from loading the usb-storage module, but will not prevent an administrator (or another program) from using the insmod program to load the module manually.

Rationale

USB storage devices such as thumb drives can be used to introduce malicious software.

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 [ ! -f /.dockerenv ] && [ ! -f /run/.containerenv ]; then

if LC_ALL=C grep -q -m 1 "^install usb-storage" /etc/modprobe.d/usb-storage.conf ; then
	
	sed -i 's#^install usb-storage.*#install usb-storage /bin/false#g' /etc/modprobe.d/usb-storage.conf
else
	echo -e "\n# Disable per security requirements" >> /etc/modprobe.d/usb-storage.conf
	echo "install usb-storage /bin/false" >> /etc/modprobe.d/usb-storage.conf
fi

if ! LC_ALL=C grep -q -m 1 "^blacklist usb-storage$" /etc/modprobe.d/usb-storage.conf ; then
	echo "blacklist usb-storage" >> /etc/modprobe.d/usb-storage.conf
fi

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: Ensure kernel module 'usb-storage' is disabled
  lineinfile:
    create: true
    dest: /etc/modprobe.d/usb-storage.conf
    regexp: install\s+usb-storage
    line: install usb-storage /bin/false
  when: ansible_virtualization_type not in ["docker", "lxc", "openvz", "podman", "container"]
  tags:
  - DISA-STIG-UBTU-20-010461
  - NIST-800-171-3.1.21
  - NIST-800-53-CM-6(a)
  - NIST-800-53-CM-7(a)
  - NIST-800-53-CM-7(b)
  - NIST-800-53-MP-7
  - PCI-DSSv4-3.4.2
  - disable_strategy
  - kernel_module_usb-storage_disabled
  - low_complexity
  - medium_disruption
  - medium_severity
  - reboot_required

- name: Ensure kernel module 'usb-storage' is blacklisted
  lineinfile:
    create: true
    dest: /etc/modprobe.d/usb-storage.conf
    regexp: ^blacklist usb-storage$
    line: blacklist usb-storage
  when: ansible_virtualization_type not in ["docker", "lxc", "openvz", "podman", "container"]
  tags:
  - DISA-STIG-UBTU-20-010461
  - NIST-800-171-3.1.21
  - NIST-800-53-CM-6(a)
  - NIST-800-53-CM-7(a)
  - NIST-800-53-CM-7(b)
  - NIST-800-53-MP-7
  - PCI-DSSv4-3.4.2
  - disable_strategy
  - kernel_module_usb-storage_disabled
  - low_complexity
  - medium_disruption
  - medium_severity
  - reboot_required