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Securing Debian Manual 3.19

Securing Debian Manual

Javier Fernández-Sanguino Peña

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Copyright © 2017 | SPI inc. | This material may only be distributed subject to the terms and conditions set forth in the GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL), V1.2 or later (the latest version is presently available at http://www.gnu.org/licenses/fdl.txt).

Abstract

This document describes security in the Debian project and in the Debian operating system. Starting with the process of securing and hardening the default Debian GNU/Linux distribution installation, it also covers some of the common tasks to set up a secure network environment using Debian GNU/Linux, gives additional information on the security tools available and talks about how security is enforced in Debian by the security and audit team.
1. Introduction
1.1. Authors
1.2. Where to get the manual (and available formats)
1.3. Organizational notes/feedback
1.4. Prior knowledge
1.5. Things that need to be written (FIXME/TODO)
1.6. Credits and thanks!
2. Before you begin
2.1. What do you want this system for?
2.2. Be aware of general security problems
2.3. How does Debian handle security?
3. Before and during the installation
3.1. Choose a BIOS password
3.2. Partitioning the system
3.2.1. Choose an intelligent partition scheme
3.2.2. Selecting the appropriate file systems
3.3. Do not plug to the Internet until ready
3.4. Set a root password
3.5. Run the minimum number of services required
3.5.1. Disabling daemon services
3.5.2. Disabling inetd or its services
3.6. Install the minimum amount of software required
3.6.1. Removing Perl
3.7. Read the Debian security mailing lists
4. After installation
4.1. Subscribe to the Debian Security Announce mailing list
4.2. Execute a security update
4.2.1. Security update of libraries
4.2.2. Security update of the kernel
4.3. Change the BIOS (again)
4.4. Set a LILO or GRUB password
4.5. Disable root prompt on the initramfs
4.6. Remove root prompt on the kernel
4.7. Restricting console login access
4.8. Restricting system reboots through the console
4.9. Restricting the use of the Magic SysRq key
4.10. Mounting partitions the right way
4.10.1. Setting /tmp noexec
4.10.2. Setting /usr read-only
4.11. Providing secure user access
4.11.1. User authentication: PAM
4.11.2. Password security in PAM
4.11.3. User access control in PAM
4.11.4. User limits in PAM
4.11.5. Control of su in PAM
4.11.6. Temporary directories in PAM
4.11.7. Configuration for undefined PAM applications
4.11.8. Limiting resource usage: the limits.conf file
4.11.9. User login actions: edit /etc/login.defs
4.11.10. User login actions: edit /etc/pam.d/login
4.11.11. Restricting ftp: editing /etc/ftpusers
4.11.12. Using su
4.11.13. Using sudo
4.11.14. Disallow remote administrative access
4.11.15. Restricting users's access
4.11.16. User auditing
4.11.17. Reviewing user profiles
4.11.18. Setting users umasks
4.11.19. Limiting what users can see/access
4.11.20. Generating user passwords
4.11.21. Checking user passwords
4.11.22. Logging off idle users
4.12. Using tcpwrappers
4.13. The importance of logs and alerts
4.13.1. Using and customizing logcheck
4.13.2. Configuring where alerts are sent
4.13.3. Using a loghost
4.13.4. Log file permissions
4.14. Adding kernel patches
4.15. Protecting against buffer overflows
4.15.1. Kernel patch protection for buffer overflows
4.15.2. Testing programs for overflows
4.16. Secure file transfers
4.17. File system limits and control
4.17.1. Using quotas
4.17.2. The ext2 filesystem specific attributes (chattr/lsattr)
4.17.3. Checking file system integrity
4.17.4. Setting up setuid check
4.18. Securing network access
4.18.1. Configuring kernel network features
4.18.2. Configuring syncookies
4.18.3. Securing the network on boot-time
4.18.4. Configuring firewall features
4.18.5. Disabling weak-end hosts issues
4.18.6. Protecting against ARP attacks
4.19. Taking a snapshot of the system
4.20. Other recommendations
4.20.1. Do not use software depending on svgalib
5. Securing services running on your system
5.1. Securing ssh
5.1.1. Chrooting ssh
5.1.2. Ssh clients
5.1.3. Disallowing file transfers
5.1.4. Restricing access to file transfer only
5.2. Securing Squid
5.3. Securing FTP
5.4. Securing access to the X Window System
5.4.1. Check your display manager
5.5. Securing printing access (the lpd and lprng issue)
5.6. Securing the mail service
5.6.1. Configuring a Nullmailer
5.6.2. Providing secure access to mailboxes
5.6.3. Receiving mail securely
5.7. Securing BIND
5.7.1. Bind configuration to avoid misuse
5.7.2. Changing BIND's user
5.7.3. Chrooting the name server
5.8. Securing Apache
5.8.1. Disabling users from publishing web contents
5.8.2. Logfiles permissions
5.8.3. Published web files
5.9. Securing finger
5.10. General chroot and suid paranoia
5.10.1. Making chrooted environments automatically
5.11. General cleartext password paranoia
5.12. Disabling NIS
5.13. Securing RPC services
5.13.1. Disabling RPC services completely
5.13.2. Limiting access to RPC services
5.14. Adding firewall capabilities
5.14.1. Firewalling the local system
5.14.2. Using a firewall to protect other systems
5.14.3. Setting up a firewall
6. Automatic hardening of Debian systems
6.1. Harden
6.2. Bastille Linux
7. Debian Security Infrastructure
7.1. The Debian Security Team
7.2. Debian Security Advisories
7.2.1. Vulnerability cross references
7.2.2. CVE compatibility
7.3. Security Tracker
7.4. Debian Security Build Infrastructure
7.4.1. Developer's guide to security updates
7.5. Package signing in Debian
7.5.1. The current scheme for package signature checks
7.5.2. Secure apt
7.5.3. Per distribution release check
7.5.4. Release check of non Debian sources
7.5.5. Alternative per-package signing scheme
8. Security tools in Debian
8.1. Remote vulnerability assessment tools
8.2. Network scanner tools
8.3. Internal audits
8.4. Auditing source code
8.5. Virtual Private Networks
8.5.1. Point to Point tunneling
8.6. Public Key Infrastructure (PKI)
8.7. SSL Infrastructure
8.8. Antivirus tools
8.9. GPG agent
9. Developer's Best Practices for OS Security
9.1. Best practices for security review and design
9.2. Creating users and groups for software daemons
10. Before the compromise
10.1. Keep your system secure
10.1.1. Tracking security vulnerabilities
10.1.2. Continuously update the system
10.1.3. Avoid using the unstable branch
10.1.4. Security support for the testing branch
10.1.5. Automatic updates in a Debian GNU/Linux system
10.2. Do periodic integrity checks
10.3. Set up Intrusion Detection
10.3.1. Network based intrusion detection
10.3.2. Host based intrusion detection
10.4. Avoiding root-kits
10.4.1. Loadable Kernel Modules (LKM)
10.4.2. Detecting root-kits
10.5. Genius/Paranoia Ideas - what you could do
10.5.1. Building a honeypot
11. After the compromise (incident response)
11.1. General behavior
11.2. Backing up the system
11.3. Contact your local CERT
11.4. Forensic analysis
11.5. Analysis of malware
12. Frequently asked Questions (FAQ)
12.1. Security in the Debian operating system
12.1.1. Is Debian more secure than X?
12.1.2. My system is vulnerable! (Are you sure?)
12.2. Specific software
12.2.1. proftpd is vulnerable to a Denial of Service attack.
12.2.2. After installing portsentry, there are a lot of ports open.
12.3. Questions regarding the Debian security team
A. Changelog/History
B. Appendix
B.1. The hardening process step by step
B.2. Configuration checklist
B.3. Setting up a stand-alone IDS
B.4. Setting up a bridge firewall
B.4.1. A bridge providing NAT and firewall capabilities
B.4.2. A bridge providing firewall capabilities
B.4.3. Basic IPtables rules
B.5. Sample script to change the default Bind installation.
B.6. Security update protected by a firewall
B.7. Chroot environment for SSH
B.7.1. Chrooting the ssh users
B.7.2. Chrooting the ssh server
B.7.3. Chroot environment for Apache
B.7.4. See also