Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 • Release: 7 Benchmark Date: 05 Jan 2026
CAT II V-257999 RHEL-09-255115
RHEL 9 SSH server configuration files' permissions must not be modified.
Discussion
Service configuration files enable or disable features of their respective services, that if configured incorrectly, can lead to insecure and vulnerable configurations. Therefore, service configuration files must have correct permissions (owner, group owner, mode) to prevent unauthorized changes.
Check Procedure
Verify the permissions of the "/etc/ssh/sshd_config" file with the following command:
$ sudo rpm --verify openssh-server | awk '! ($2 == "c" && $1 ~ /^.\..\.\.\.\..\./) {print $0}'
If the command returns any output, this is a finding. Fix Action
Run the following commands to restore the correct permissions of OpenSSH server configuration files: $ sudo rpm --setugids openssh-server $ sudo rpm --setperms openssh-server