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Disable PermitUserEnvironment

🗓️ 25 Sep 2025 00:00:00Reported by Copyright (C) 2025 Greenbone AGType 
openvas
 openvas
🔗 plugins.openvas.org👁 9 Views

Disable PermitUserEnvironment in sshd_config to prevent attackers from setting SSH environment variables.

Code
# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2025 Greenbone AG
# Some text descriptions might be excerpted from (a) referenced
# source(s), and are Copyright (C) by the respective right holder(s).
#
# SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0-only

# ------------------------------------------------------------------
# METADATA
# ------------------------------------------------------------------

if(description)
{
  script_oid("1.3.6.1.4.1.25623.1.0.130489");
  script_version("2025-11-21T05:40:28+0000");
  script_tag(name:"last_modification", value:"2025-11-21 05:40:28 +0000 (Fri, 21 Nov 2025)");
  script_tag(name:"creation_date", value:"2025-09-25 13:11:08 +0000 (Thu, 25 Sep 2025)");
  script_tag(name:"cvss_base", value:"0.0");
  script_tag(name:"cvss_base_vector", value:"AV:L/AC:H/Au:S/C:N/I:N/A:N");
  script_tag(name:"qod", value:"97");

  script_name("Disable PermitUserEnvironment");

  script_category(ACT_GATHER_INFO);
  script_copyright("Copyright (C) 2025 Greenbone AG");
  script_family("Policy");
  script_dependencies("compliance_tests.nasl", "compliance_os_check.nasl");

  script_mandatory_keys("Compliance/Launch", "policy/ssh/login/eulerosvirtual");

  script_xref(name:"Policy", value:"EulerOS Virtual: EulerOS Virtual Linux Security Configuration (v1.0.0): 3. Running and Services: 3.3 SSH: 3.3.15 Disable PermitUserEnvironment (Recommendation)");

  script_tag(name:"summary", value:"PermitUserEnvironment allows users to set SSH environment
variables, which may be exploited by attackers to launch attacks.

If PermitUserEnvironment is set to yes, attackers can modify SSH environment variables to evade the
security mechanism or execute attack code. This configuration must be disabled.");

  exit(0);
}

include("ssh_func.inc");
include("host_details.inc");
include("policy_reporting_module.inc");

title = "Disable PermitUserEnvironment";

solution = "Open the /etc/ssh/sshd_config file, set the PermitUserEnvironment field to no, and
restart the sshd service.

# vim /etc/ssh/sshd_config
PermitUserEnvironment no
# systemctl restart sshd";

check_type = "SSH_Cmd";

action = 'Run the command in the terminal:
# grep -i "^PermitUserEnvironment" /etc/ssh/sshd_config';

expected_value = 'The output should be equal to "PermitUserEnvironment no"';

# ------------------------------------------------------------------
# CONNECTION CHECK
# ------------------------------------------------------------------

if(!get_kb_item("login/SSH/success") || !sock = ssh_login_or_reuse_connection()){

  report_ssh_error(title: title,
                   solution: solution,
                   action: action,
                   expected_value: expected_value,
                   check_type: check_type);
  exit(0);
}

# ------------------------------------------------------------------
# CHECK : Verify command `grep -i "^PermitUserEnvironment" /etc/ssh/sshd_config`
# ------------------------------------------------------------------

step_cmd = 'grep -i "^PermitUserEnvironment" /etc/ssh/sshd_config';
actual_value = ssh_cmd(socket:sock, cmd:step_cmd, return_errors:TRUE, return_linux_errors_only:TRUE);

if(eregmatch(string: actual_value, pattern:"(No such file or directory|Permission denied|Command not found|Segmentation fault|service not found|is not running|syntax error near unexpected token|syntax error: unexpected end of file)", icase: TRUE)){
  compliant = "incomplete";
  comment = "Something went wrong during the audit check. Please try again.";
}else if(actual_value == 'PermitUserEnvironment no'){
  compliant = "yes";
  comment = "Check passed";
}else{
  compliant = "no";
  comment = "Check failed";
}

# ------------------------------------------------------------------
# REPORT
# ------------------------------------------------------------------

target = get_kb_item("policy/ssh/login/os-release");
comment = "Target: " + target + "\n" + comment;

report_audit(action: action,
             actual_value: actual_value,
             expected_value: expected_value,
             is_compliant: compliant,
             solution: solution,
             check_type: check_type,
             title: title,
             comment: comment);

exit(0);

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21 Nov 2025 00:00Current
7High risk
Vulners AI Score7
9