The Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating system must not contain .shosts files.

STIG ID: RHEL-07-040540 |  SRG: SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227 |  Severity: high |  CCI:  | Vulnerability Id: V-204606

Vulnerability Discussion

The .shosts files are used to configure host-based authentication for individual users or 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.

Check

Remove any found ".shosts" files from the system.

# rm /[path]/[to]/[file]/.shosts

Fix

Verify there are no ".shosts" files on the system.

Check the system for the existence of these files with the following command:

# find / -name '*.shosts'

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