STIGQter: STIG Summary: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 Security Technical Implementation Guide Version: 1 Release: 2 Benchmark Date: 01 Jul 2026:

RHEL 10 must be configured so that all network connections associated with Secure Shell (SSH) traffic terminate after becoming unresponsive.

DISA Rule

SV-281269r1184769_rule

Vulnerability Number

V-281269

Group Title

SRG-OS-000163-GPOS-00072

Rule Version

RHEL-10-700660

Severity

CAT II

CCI(s)

• CCI-001133 - Terminate the network connection associated with a communications session at the end of the session or after an organization-defined time period of inactivity.
• CCI-002361 - Automatically terminate a user session after organization-defined conditions or trigger events requiring session disconnect.

Weight

10

Fix Recommendation

Configure RHEL 10 to automatically terminate all network connections associated with SSH traffic at the end of a session or after 10 minutes of inactivity.

In "/etc/ssh/sshd_config.d", create a drop file that will lexicographically precede 50-redhat.conf and add the following line:

ClientAliveCountMax 1

Restart the SSH daemon with the following command for the changes to take effect:

$ sudo systemctl restart sshd.service

Check Contents

Verify RHEL 10 network connections associated with SSH traffic terminate after becoming unresponsive.

Set the "ClientAliveCountMax" to "1" by performing the following command:

$ sudo /usr/sbin/sshd -dd 2>&1 | awk '/filename/ {print $4}' | tr -d '\r' | tr '\n' ' ' | xargs sudo grep -iH '^\s*clientalivecountmax'
/etc/ssh/sshd_config.d/10-stig.conf:ClientAliveCountMax 1

Verify the runtime setting with the following command:

$ sudo sshd -T | grep -i clientalivecountmax
clientalivecountmax 1

If the "ClientAliveCountMax" keyword is not set to a value of "1" in a drop-in that lexicographically precedes 50-redhat.conf, or if no output is returned, this is a finding.

Vulnerability Number

V-281269

Documentable

False

Rule Version

RHEL-10-700660

Severity Override Guidance

Verify RHEL 10 network connections associated with SSH traffic terminate after becoming unresponsive.

Set the "ClientAliveCountMax" to "1" by performing the following command:

$ sudo /usr/sbin/sshd -dd 2>&1 | awk '/filename/ {print $4}' | tr -d '\r' | tr '\n' ' ' | xargs sudo grep -iH '^\s*clientalivecountmax'
/etc/ssh/sshd_config.d/10-stig.conf:ClientAliveCountMax 1

Verify the runtime setting with the following command:

$ sudo sshd -T | grep -i clientalivecountmax
clientalivecountmax 1

If the "ClientAliveCountMax" keyword is not set to a value of "1" in a drop-in that lexicographically precedes 50-redhat.conf, or if no output is returned, this is a finding.

Check Content Reference

M

Target Key

5733