System Security with OpenSCAP
SUSE Manager uses OpenSCAP to audit clients. It allows you to schedule and view compliance scans for any client.
1. About SCAP
The Security Content Automation Protocol (SCAP) is a synthesis of interoperable specifications derived from community ideas. It is a line of specifications maintained by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) for maintaining system security for enterprise systems.
SCAP was created to provide a standardized approach to maintaining system security, and the standards that are used continually change to meet the needs of the community and enterprise businesses. New specifications are governed by NIST’s SCAP Release cycle to provide a consistent and repeatable revision work flow. For more information, see:
SUSE Manager uses OpenSCAP to implement the SCAP specifications. OpenSCAP is an auditing tool that utilizes the Extensible Configuration Checklist Description Format (XCCDF). XCCDF is a standard way of expressing checklist content and defines security checklists. It also combines with other specifications such as Common Platform Enumeration (CPE), Common Configuration Enumeration (CCE), and Open Vulnerability and Assessment Language (OVAL), to create a SCAP-expressed checklist that can be processed by SCAP-validated products.
OpenSCAP verifies the presence of patches by using content produced by the SUSE Security Team. OpenSCAP checks system security configuration settings and examines systems for signs of compromise by using rules based on standards and specifications. For more information about the SUSE Security Team, see https://www.suse.com/support/security.
2. Prepare Clients for an SCAP Scan
Before you begin, you need to prepare your client systems for SCAP scanning.
OpenSCAP auditing is not available on Salt clients that use the SSH contact method. |
Scanning clients can consume a lot of memory and compute power on the client being scanned. For Red Hat clients, ensure you have at least 2 GB of RAM available on each client to be scanned. |
For traditional and Salt clients, install the OpenSCAP scanner and the SCAP Security Guide (content) packages before you begin. Depending on the operating system, these packages are included either on the base operating system, or in the SUSE Manager Client Tools.
The table below lists the packages you need depending on your client operating system:
Operating system | Scanner | Content |
---|---|---|
SLES |
openscap-utils |
scap-security-guide |
openSUSE |
openscap-utils |
scap-security-guide |
RHEL |
openscap-utils |
scap-security-guide-redhat |
CentOS |
openscap-utils |
scap-security-guide-redhat |
Oracle Linux |
openscap-utils |
scap-security-guide-redhat |
Ubuntu |
libopenscap8 |
scap-security-guide-ubuntu |
Debian |
libopenscap8 |
scap-security-guide-debian |
RHEL 7 and compatible systems provide a scap-security-guide
package, which contains outdated contents.
You are advised to use the scap-security-guide-redhat
package you will find in the SUSE Manager Client Tools.
SUSE provides the
Other profiles, like the CIS profile, are community supplied and not officially supported by SUSE. For Non-SUSE operating systems the included profiles are community supplied. They are not officially supported by SUSE. |
3. OpenSCAP Content Files
OpenSCAP uses SCAP content files to define test rules. These content files are created based on the XCCDF or OVAL standards. In addition to the SCAP Security Guide, you can download publicly available content files and customize it to your requirements. You can install the SCAP Security Guide package for default content file templates. Alternatively, if you are familiar with XCCDF or OVAL, you can create your own content files.
We recommend you use templates to create your SCAP content files. If you create and use your own custom content files, you do so at your own risk. If your system becomes damaged through the use of custom content files, you might not be supported by SUSE. |
When you have created your content files, you need to transfer the file to the client.
You can do this in the same way as you move any other file, using physical storage media, or across a network with Salt (for example, salt-cp or the Salt File Server), ftp
or scp
.
We recommend that you create a package to distribute content files to clients that you are managing with SUSE Manager. Packages can be signed and verified to ensure their integrity. For more information, see Custom Channels.
4. Find OpenSCAP profiles
Different operating systems make available different OpenSCAP content files and profiles. One content file may contain more than one profile.
On RPM-based operating systems, use this command to determine the location of the available SCAP files:
rpm -ql <scap-security-guide-package-name-from-table>
On DEB-based operating systems, use this command to determine the location of the available SCAP files:
dpkg -L <scap-security-guide-package-name-from-table>
When you have identified one SCAP content file that suits your needs, list profiles available on the client:
oscap info /usr/share/xml/scap/ssg/content/ssg-sle15-ds-1.2.xml Document type: Source Data Stream Imported: 2021-03-24T18:14:45 Stream: scap_org.open-scap_datastream_from_xccdf_ssg-sle15-xccdf-1.2.xml Generated: (null) Version: 1.2 Checklists: Ref-Id: scap_org.open-scap_cref_ssg-sle15-xccdf-1.2.xml Status: draft Generated: 2021-03-24 Resolved: true Profiles: Title: CIS SUSE Linux Enterprise 15 Benchmark Id: xccdf_org.ssgproject.content_profile_cis Title: Standard System Security Profile for SUSE Linux Enterprise 15 Id: xccdf_org.ssgproject.content_profile_standard Title: DISA STIG for SUSE Linux Enterprise 15 Id: xccdf_org.ssgproject.content_profile_stig Referenced check files: ssg-sle15-oval.xml system: http://oval.mitre.org/XMLSchema/oval-definitions-5 ssg-sle15-ocil.xml system: http://scap.nist.gov/schema/ocil/2 https://ftp.suse.com/pub/projects/security/oval/suse.linux.enterprise.15.xml system: http://oval.mitre.org/XMLSchema/oval-definitions-5 Checks: Ref-Id: scap_org.open-scap_cref_ssg-sle15-oval.xml Ref-Id: scap_org.open-scap_cref_ssg-sle15-ocil.xml Ref-Id: scap_org.open-scap_cref_ssg-sle15-cpe-oval.xml Dictionaries: Ref-Id: scap_org.open-scap_cref_ssg-sle15-cpe-dictionary.xml
Take a note of the file paths and profiles for performing the scan.
5. Perform an Audit Scan
When you have installed or transferred your content files, you can perform audit scans. Audit scans can be triggered using the SUSE Manager Web UI. You can also use the SUSE Manager API to schedule regular scans.
-
In the SUSE Manager Web UI, navigate to
and select the client you want to scan. -
Navigate to the
Audit
tab, and theSchedule
subtab. -
In the
Path to XCCDF Document
field, enter the parameters for the SCAP template and profile you want to use on the client. For example:Command: /usr/bin/oscap xccdf eval Command-line arguments: --profile xccdf_org.ssgproject.content_profile_stig Path to XCCDF document: /usr/share/xml/scap/ssg/content/ssg-sle15-ds-1.2.xml
If you use
--fetch-remote-resources
parameter a lot of RAM is required. In addition, you may need to increase the value offile_recv_max_size
. -
The scan runs at the client’s next scheduled synchronization.
The XCCDF content file is validated before it is run on the remote system. If the content file includes invalid arguments, the test fails. |
-
Before you begin, ensure that the client to be scanned has Python and XML-RPC libraries installed.
-
Choose an existing script or create a script for scheduling a system scan through
system.scap.scheduleXccdfScan
. For example:#!/usr/bin/python3 client = xmlrpc.client.ServerProxy('https://server.example.com/rpc/api') key = client.auth.login('username', 'password') client.system.scap.scheduleXccdfScan(key, <1000010001>, '<path_to_xccdf_file.xml>', '--profile <profile_name>')
In this example: *
<1000010001>
is the system ID (sid). *<path_to_xccdf_file.xml>
is the path to the content file location on the client. For example,/usr/share/xml/scap/ssg/content/ssg-sle15-ds-1.2.xml
. *<profile_name>
is an additional argument for theoscap
command. For example, useunited_states_government_configuration_baseline
(USGCB). -
Run the script on the client you want to scan, from the command prompt.
6. Scan Results
Information about the scans you have run is in the SUSE Manager Web UI. Navigate to to All Scans.
for a table of results. For more information about the data in this table, seeTo ensure that detailed information about scans is available, you need to enable it on the client.
In the SUSE Manager Web UI, navigate to Configuration
tab, and check the Enable Upload of Detailed SCAP Files
option.
When enabled, this generates an additional HTML file on every scan, which contains extra information.
The results show an extra line similar to this:
Detailed Results: xccdf-report.html xccdf-results.xml scap-yast2sec-oval.xml.result.xml
To retrieve scan information from the command line, use the spacewalk-report
command:
spacewalk-report system-history-scap spacewalk-report scap-scan spacewalk-report scap-scan-results
You can also use the SUSE Manager API to view results, with the system.scap
handler.
7. Remediation
Remediation Bash scripts and Ansible playbooks are provided in the same SCAP Security Guide packages to harden the client systems. For example:
/usr/share/scap-security-guide/bash/sle15-script-cis.sh /usr/share/scap-security-guide/bash/sle15-script-standard.sh /usr/share/scap-security-guide/bash/sle15-script-stig.sh
/usr/share/scap-security-guide/ansible/sle15-playbook-cis.yml /usr/share/scap-security-guide/ansible/sle15-playbook-standard.yml /usr/share/scap-security-guide/ansible/sle15-playbook-stig.yml
You can run them using remote commands or with Ansible, after enabling Ansible in the client system.
7.1. Run remediation using a Bash script
Install the scap-security-guide
package on all your target systems.
For more information, see Setup Ansible control node.
Packages, channels and scripts are different for each operating system and distribution. Examples are listed in the Example remediation Bash scripts section.
7.1.1. Run the Bash script on single systems as a remote command
Run the Bash script as a remote command on single systems.
-
From
tab, select your instance. Then in , write a Bash script such as:#!/bin/bash chmod +x -R /usr/share/scap-security-guide/bash /usr/share/scap-security-guide/bash/sle15-script-stig.sh
-
Click Schedule.
Folder and script names change between distribution and version. Examples are listed in the Example remediation Bash scripts section. |
7.1.2. Run the bash script using System Set Manager on multiple systems
Run the Bash script as a remote command on multiple systems at once.
-
When a system group has been created click
System Groups
, selectUse in SSM
from the table. -
From the
System Set Manager
, under , write a Bash script such as:#!/bin/bash chmod +x -R /usr/share/scap-security-guide/bash /usr/share/scap-security-guide/bash/sle15-script-stig.sh
-
Click Schedule.
7.2. Example remediation Bash scripts
7.2.1. SUSE Linux Enterprise openSUSE and variants
Example SUSE Linux Enterprise and openSUSE script data.
- Package
-
scap-security-guide
- Channels
-
-
SLE12: SLES12 Updates
-
SLE15: SLES15 Module Basesystem Updates
-
- Bash script directory
-
/usr/share/scap-security-guide/bash/
- Bash scripts
-
opensuse-script-standard.sh sle12-script-standard.sh sle12-script-stig.sh sle15-script-cis.sh sle15-script-standard.sh sle15-script-stig.sh
7.2.2. Red Hat Enterprise Linux and CentOS Bash script data
Example Red Hat Enterprise Linux and CentOS script data.
|
- Package
-
scap-security-guide-redhat
- Channels
-
-
SUSE Manager Tools
-
- Bash script directory
-
/usr/share/scap-security-guide/bash/
- Bash scripts
-
centos7-script-pci-dss.sh centos7-script-standard.sh centos8-script-pci-dss.sh centos8-script-standard.sh fedora-script-ospp.sh fedora-script-pci-dss.sh fedora-script-standard.sh ol7-script-anssi_nt28_enhanced.sh ol7-script-anssi_nt28_high.sh ol7-script-anssi_nt28_intermediary.sh ol7-script-anssi_nt28_minimal.sh ol7-script-cjis.sh ol7-script-cui.sh ol7-script-e8.sh ol7-script-hipaa.sh ol7-script-ospp.sh ol7-script-pci-dss.sh ol7-script-sap.sh ol7-script-standard.sh ol7-script-stig.sh ol8-script-anssi_bp28_enhanced.sh ol8-script-anssi_bp28_high.sh ol8-script-anssi_bp28_intermediary.sh ol8-script-anssi_bp28_minimal.sh ol8-script-cjis.sh ol8-script-cui.sh ol8-script-e8.sh ol8-script-hipaa.sh ol8-script-ospp.sh ol8-script-pci-dss.sh ol8-script-standard.sh rhel7-script-anssi_nt28_enhanced.sh rhel7-script-anssi_nt28_high.sh rhel7-script-anssi_nt28_intermediary.sh rhel7-script-anssi_nt28_minimal.sh rhel7-script-C2S.sh rhel7-script-cis.sh rhel7-script-cjis.sh rhel7-script-cui.sh rhel7-script-e8.sh rhel7-script-hipaa.sh rhel7-script-ncp.sh rhel7-script-ospp.sh rhel7-script-pci-dss.sh rhel7-script-rhelh-stig.sh rhel7-script-rhelh-vpp.sh rhel7-script-rht-ccp.sh rhel7-script-standard.sh rhel7-script-stig_gui.sh rhel7-script-stig.sh rhel8-script-anssi_bp28_enhanced.sh rhel8-script-anssi_bp28_high.sh rhel8-script-anssi_bp28_intermediary.sh rhel8-script-anssi_bp28_minimal.sh rhel8-script-cis.sh rhel8-script-cjis.sh rhel8-script-cui.sh rhel8-script-e8.sh rhel8-script-hipaa.sh rhel8-script-ism_o.sh rhel8-script-ospp.sh rhel8-script-pci-dss.sh rhel8-script-rhelh-stig.sh rhel8-script-rhelh-vpp.sh rhel8-script-rht-ccp.sh rhel8-script-standard.sh rhel8-script-stig_gui.sh rhel8-script-stig.sh rhel9-script-pci-dss.sh rhosp10-script-cui.sh rhosp10-script-stig.sh rhosp13-script-stig.sh rhv4-script-pci-dss.sh rhv4-script-rhvh-stig.sh rhv4-script-rhvh-vpp.sh sl7-script-pci-dss.sh sl7-script-standard.sh
7.2.3. Ubuntu Bash script data
Example Ubuntu script data.
- Package
-
scap-security-guide-ubuntu
- Channels
-
-
SUSE Manager Tools
-
- Bash script directory
-
/usr/share/scap-security-guide/
- Bash scripts
-
ubuntu1804-script-anssi_np_nt28_average.sh ubuntu1804-script-anssi_np_nt28_high.sh ubuntu1804-script-anssi_np_nt28_minimal.sh ubuntu1804-script-anssi_np_nt28_restrictive.sh ubuntu1804-script-cis.sh ubuntu1804-script-standard.sh ubuntu2004-script-standard.sh
7.2.4. Debian Bash script data
Example Debian script data.
- Package
-
scap-security-guide-debian
- Channels
-
-
SUSE Manager Tools
-
- Bash script directory
-
/usr/share/scap-security-guide/bash/
- Bash scripts
-
debian10-script-anssi_np_nt28_average.sh debian10-script-anssi_np_nt28_high.sh debian10-script-anssi_np_nt28_minimal.sh debian10-script-anssi_np_nt28_restrictive.sh debian10-script-standard.sh debian11-script-anssi_np_nt28_average.sh debian11-script-anssi_np_nt28_high.sh debian11-script-anssi_np_nt28_minimal.sh debian11-script-anssi_np_nt28_restrictive.sh debian11-script-standard.sh