xccdf:sub elements commented out

Simon Lukasik isimluk at fedoraproject.org
Wed Mar 19 08:32:41 UTC 2014


On 03/18/2014 05:33 PM, Jan Ruzicka wrote:
> Hi,
>

Hello,

> Was the commenting out result of some evaluation substituting specified values?

The commented-out code was not result of automated evaluation/substitution.

> Is there a step to revert this substitution (to have a roundtrip) ?
>

The xccdf:sub elements are rarely substituted in the input XCCDF file 
[1]. The xccdf:sub elements are only resolved in the run-time; e.g. in 
order to be printed-out.

[1]: There is only one exception. OpenSCAP substitutes xccdf:sub 
elements within Rule/fix and exports the result to the particular 
rule-result/fix during remediation. That is done to help users 
debug/audit what commands has been run.

> Jan
>
> On Mar 18, 2014, at 10:46, Simon Lukasik wrote:
>
>> Hello,
>>
>> I have noticed that in the content there is often xccdf:sub element
>> commented out (or even omitted). I wonder why these elements are
>> commented out. I thought, perhaps there was some problem in OpenSCAP
>> which have hold you from usage of sub elements.
>>
>> As a reminder, xccdf:sub elements can be used within a Rule's title,
>> description, or fix elements. Each xccdf:sub element refers to a XCCDF
>> variable. The value of variable depends on selected profile. During a
>> content processing, the xccdf:sub elements shall get resolved according
>> to the profile.
>>
>> I have recently reviewed and fixed OpenSCAP and SCAP-Workbench tools in
>> regard to the xccdf:sub processing. Please consider using/uncommneting
>> xccdf:sub elements.
>>
>> The following snippets from ssg-rhel6-xccdf.xml illustrate the current
>> (non-)usage of sub elements:
>>
>> (1)
>> PASS_MIN_LEN 14<!-- <sub
>> idref="var_accounts_password_minlen_login_defs"> -->
>>
>> (2)
>> the following lines in <xhtml:code>/etc/default/useradd</xhtml:code>,
>> substituting
>> <xhtml:code><i
>> xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">NUM_DAYS</i></xhtml:code>
>> appropriately:
>> <pre xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">INACTIVE=<i>NUM_DAYS</i></pre>
>>
>> (3)
>> to require differing
>> characters when changing passwords, substituting <i
>> xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">NUM</i> appropriately.
>> The DoD requirement is <xhtml:code>4</xhtml:code>.
>>
>> (4)
>> umask 077<!-- <sub idref="var_accounts_user_umask" /> -->
>>
>> (5)
>> Modify the following line,
>> substituting <i xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">ACTION</i>
>> appropriately:
>> <pre xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">space_left_action =
>> <i>ACTION</i></pre>
>> Possible values for <i xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">ACTION</i>
>> are described in the <xhtml:code>auditd.conf</xhtml:code> man page.
>>
>> --
>> Simon Lukasik
>> Security Technologies, Red Hat, Inc.
>> _______________________________________________
>> scap-security-guide mailing list
>> scap-security-guide at lists.fedorahosted.org
>> https://lists.fedorahosted.org/mailman/listinfo/scap-security-guide
>
> Jan Ruzicka
> Senior Software Engineer
> Comtech Mobile Datacom Corporation
> 20430 Century Blvd, Germantown, MD 20874
> Office: 240-686-3300
> Fax: 240-686-3301
>
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-- 
Simon Lukasik
Security Technologies


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