Usage of packages with unauthenticated or missing signatures allowed misconfiguration detected in co

Rule Details

Cortex AppSec Rule ID	APPSEC_ANSIBLE_5
Category - Subcategory	Compute - Default Credentials Or Auth
Provider	OTHER
Severity	LOW
Framework	Ansible

Impact

This rule detects whether Ansible apt modules install packages without authenticating their signatures, including those with missing signatures. Unauthenticated packages can result in the installation of modified or malicious packages through several mechanisms such as Man-in -the-Middle_Attacks. Malicious attackers could potentially manipulate packages during download, inserting malicious code or substituting them with entirely malicious versions.

How to Fix

Module: ansible.builtin.apt or apt

• Attribute: allow_unauthenticated

To mitigate this risk, set the allow_unauthenticated attribute in your apt module to either 'false' or 'omitted'. When you set allow_unauthenticated to 'false', Ansible strictly enforces package authentication. This enforces the authentication of package signatures, thereby safeguarding your systems against potentially harmful packages. If you omit the allow_unauthenticated attribute from your apt module, Ansible defaults to the system's behavior regarding package authentication. Typically, this behavior requires package signatures to be authenticated before installation.

Secure Code Example:

Setting allow_unauthenticated to false in this example ensures that only authenticated packages are installed via your apt module. [source,go]

• name: Example hosts: all gather_facts: False tasks:

  • name: Do not allow unauthenticated packages ansible.builtin.apt: name: nginx state: latest
•   allow_unauthenticated: true

•   allow_unauthenticated: false

---