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Nuclei Templates

Disable SSH Empty Password

ID: file-disable-empty-password

Severity: unknown

Author: pussycat0x

Tags: audit,config,file,ssh

Description

Section titled “Description”

Allowing empty passwords in SSH poses a severe security risk, enabling unauthorized access, brute-force attacks, and potential system compromise. It should always be disabled to prevent unauthorized logins.

YAML Source

Section titled “YAML Source”
id: file-disable-empty-password


info:
  name: Disable SSH Empty Password
  author: pussycat0x
  severity: unknown
  description: |
    Allowing empty passwords in SSH poses a severe security risk, enabling unauthorized access, brute-force attacks, and potential system compromise. It should always be disabled to prevent unauthorized logins.
  remediation: |
    Set PermitEmptyPasswords no in /etc/ssh/sshd_config to disable empty password logins and restart the SSH service.
  reference:
    - https://vishalraj82.medium.com/hardening-openssh-security-37f5d634015f
    - https://docs.datadoghq.com/security/default_rules/xccdf-org-ssgproject-content-rule-sshd-disable-empty-passwords/
  metadata:
    verified: true
  tags: audit,config,file,ssh


file:
  - extensions:
      - all


    matchers-condition: and
    matchers:
      - type: word
        words:
          - "# This is the sshd server system-wide configuration file"


      - type: word
        words:
          - "PermitEmptyPasswords no"
        negative: true
# digest: 4b0a00483046022100b68a6b67b0ed2869a552a177efc9f6f92048f5c724d25661e8d2166017121cbb022100fa9829590f091a29d2d8e8f8146958370f5fd2ed4dad9e57e6cf48f8dc6dc69b:922c64590222798bb761d5b6d8e72950

Guide to check the vulnerabilities

Section titled “Guide to check the vulnerabilities”

This template is used to detect vulnerabilities in web applications. It can be used with the Nuclei tool to scan for specific patterns or behaviors.

Terminal window
$ nuclei -u "URL" -t "file/audit/ssh/file-disable-empty-password.yaml"

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