There must be no shosts.equiv files on SLEM 5.

Overview

Finding ID	Version	Rule ID	IA Controls	Severity
V-261344	SLEM-05-255095	SV-261344r996490_rule		High

Description

The shosts.equiv files are used to configure host-based authentication for the system via SSH. Host-based authentication is not sufficient for preventing unauthorized access to the system, as it does not require interactive identification and authentication of a connection request, or for the use of two-factor authentication.

STIG	Date
SUSE Linux Enterprise Micro (SLEM) 5 Security Technical Implementation Guide	2025-05-08

Details

Check Text (C-65073r995897_chk)

Verify there are no "shosts.equiv" files on SLEM 5 with the following command:

> sudo find /etc -name shosts.equiv

If any "shosts.equiv" files are found on the system, this is a finding.

Fix Text (F-64981r995898_fix)

Remove any "shosts.equiv" files found on SLEM 5.

> sudo rm /<path_to_file>/shosts.equiv