SSG for RHEL 6 (UNCLASSIFIED)

Shawn Wells shawn at redhat.com
Tue Feb 25 22:46:55 UTC 2014


On 2/25/14, 3:44 PM, Bailey, Christopher D CTR USARMY AMRDEC (US) wrote:
> Does anyone know if there's been an official approval from DISA for the
> use of SSG content and the openSCAP utility on RHEL 6 systems for
> providing official vulnerability reports to IA inspectors?  Our local IA
> folks tell us that SCC is the only DISA approved/provided product that
> we can use for scanning our systems and providing scan results to IA for
> inspection and analysis.  However, SCC only provides content up to RHEL
> 5, which is of no help with RHEL 6.  We have our own homemade script for
> scanning, but that's only good for in-house use. We need something for
> producing official SCAP formatted vulnerability reports. We believe our
> best option for automated scanning is the openSCAP tool with SSG
> content, which is what we want to use, but there doesn't seem to be any
> official acceptance for its use.
>
> Basically, my IA folks want to see something in writing from DISA that
> says they officially approve the use of SSG content and the openSCAP
> tool for proving IA compliance on RHEL 6 systems.  I know that the DISA
> FSO is working closely with Red Hat on SSG, but I can't find anything
> like an official release from DISA.

Short answer: You won't find anything official yet.

Long answer:
NSA IAD delegates responsibility for DoD STIG work to DISA FSO. 
Ultimately DISA FSO is the authoritative repo for STIGs. However, it's 
important to note that the STIGs are DISA FSO's selection of NIST 800-53 
controls aligned with refine values (e.g. password lengths). The STIG 
itself is now expressed in XCCDF, aka it's just a policy document. 
Programs have independence on how to meet this policy, and C&A shops 
have free range on how to verify compliance.

SSG was formed to fuse policy (XCCDF) with automation (OVAL) 
development. DISA FSO calls out that SSG is the policy upstream in 
Section 1.1 of the STIG Overview [1], which reads:
> The consensus content was developed using an open-source project 
> called SCAP Security Guide.
> The project’s website is 
> https://fedorahosted.org/scap-security-guide/. Except for differences in
> formatting to accommodate the DISA STIG publishing process, the 
> content of the RHEL6 STIG
> should mirror the SCAP Security Guide content with only minor 
> divergence as updates from
> multiple sources work through the consensus process
Because of this upstream nature, many DAAs and C&A teams allow the 
direct usage of SSG to ensure they're receiving the latest in policy and 
automation content.

Anyway, your direct questions:

_*(1) OpenSCAP vs SPAWAR SCC vs other SCAP interpreters*_
NIST maintains the official U.S. Government listing of validated SCAP 
scanners (for all operating systems). Today there are no certified SCAP 
scanners for RHEL6. Nothing. Period. List online @ 
http://nvd.nist.gov/scapproducts.cfm.

On March 13, 2013, Red Hat publicly disclosed that OpenSCAP was 
undergoing the SCAP 1.2 certification process. I can't immediately find 
public information on our status, however those who can comment lurk on 
the list (Grubb, Jan, Peter, etc). The original PR @
http://www.redhat.com/about/news/archive/2013/3/red-hat-openscap-under-evaluation-to-meet-scap-1-2-nist-standard

Because OpenSCAP is shipped within RHEL (thus supported directly by Red 
Hat), and we're undergoing SCAP 1.2 certification work, most DAA/C&A 
shops allow its use.

SSG also enjoys a create relationship with Jack Vander Pol, Doug Tanner, 
and all the SPAWAR SCC guys. I'm currently testing their SCC 3.1.2 RC2 
release. Note, however, SPAWAR SCC has never been evaluated by NIST as a 
Linux SCAP scanner. While not NIST evaluated, SPAWAR does provide (in 
house) support for RHEL5 and 6. You can review their NIST evaluation @ 
http://nvd.nist.gov/validation_spawar.cfm.


_*(2) Formal status of SSG*_
- As mentioned above, SSG serves as the upstream for DISA FSO content. 
FSO is currently working through independent testing of SSG OVAL 
content. Once complete, FSO will publish to their website. They've no 
current estimated completion date. Would suggest you ping them directly 
to show customer demand:
disa.letterkenny.FSO.mbx.stig-customer-support-mailbox at mail.mil

- NSA IAD is also using SSG to publish their SNAC guide. Jeff Blank & I 
chatted on the phone this afternoon about just this.... he promised a 
direct response to the list later today/tomorrow. In short, Jeff's been 
very public that the RHEL6 SNAC Guide will be directly derived from SSG.

- Red Hat plans to upgrade SSG from EPEL and ship directly within RHEL 
6.6+. If you are interested in this happening, PLEASE open an RFE with 
Red Hat (I can help with this offline). Once shipped within RHEL, SSG 
will be the official body of SCAP content supported by Red Hat. Progress 
in this area can be tracked publicly:
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1038655

Hopefully this helps you a bit, while waiting for Jeff and FSO to chime in.


[1] Authoritative copies within the DISA FSO zip file. However, a direct 
link to my convienent copy:
http://people.redhat.com/swells/rhel6stig/U_RedHat_6_V1R2_Overview.pdf
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