This is not the latest version of the STIG. This is provided for archival purposes. See the latest STIG.

The SUSE operating system must not allow interfaces to accept Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) redirect messages by default.

STIG ID: SLES-12-030400  |  SRG: SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227 |  Severity: medium (CAT II)  |  CCI: CCI-000366 |  Vulnerability Id: V-217292

Vulnerability Discussion

ICMP redirect messages are used by routers to inform hosts that a more direct route exists for a particular destination. These messages modify the host's route table and are unauthenticated. An illicit ICMP redirect message could result in a man-in-the-middle attack.

Check

Verify the SUSE operating system ignores IPv4 ICMP redirect messages.

Check the value of the "accept_redirects" variables with the following command:

# sysctl net.ipv4.conf.default.accept_redirects
net.ipv4.conf.default.accept_redirects = 0

If the returned line does not have a value of "0" this is a finding.

Fix

Configure the SUSE operating system ignores IPv4 ICMP redirect messages by adding the following line to "/etc/sysctl.conf" (or modify the line to have the required value):

net.ipv4.conf.default.accept_redirects = 0

Run the following command to apply this value:

# sysctl --system