Anthos clusters on VMware is now Google Distributed Cloud (software only) for VMware. For more information, see the product overview.

CIS Ubuntu Benchmark

This document describes the level of compliance that Google Distributed Cloud has with the CIS Ubuntu Benchmark.

Access the benchmark

The CIS Ubuntu Benchmark is available on the CIS website.

Configuration profile

In the CIS Ubuntu Benchmark document, you can read about configuration profiles. The Ubuntu images used by Google Distributed Cloud are hardened to meet the Level 2 - Server profile.

Evaluation on Google Distributed Cloud

We use the following values to specify the status of Ubuntu recommendations in Google Distributed Cloud.

Status	Description
Pass	Complies with a benchmark recommendation.
Fail	Does not comply with a benchmark recommendation.
Equivalent control	Does not comply with the exact terms in a benchmark recommendation, but other mechanisms in Google Distributed Cloud provide equivalent security controls.
Depends on environment	Google Distributed Cloud does not configure items related to a benchmark recommendation. Your configuration determines whether your environment complies with the recommendation.

Status of Google Distributed Cloud

The Ubuntu images used with Google Distributed Cloud are hardened to meet the CIS Level 2 - Server profile. The following table gives justifications for why Google Distributed Cloud components did not pass certain recommendations.

1.30 Versions

This section refers to these versions:

Google Distributed Cloud version	Ubuntu version	CIS Ubuntu Benchmark version	CIS level
1.30	22.04 LTS	v1.0.0	Level 2 Server

Status of Google Distributed Cloud

#	Recommendation	Status	Justification	Affected Components
1.1.2.1	Ensure /tmp Located On Separate Partition	Fail	Canonical has no plan to modify the cloud image partitions at this time.	All cluster nodes, Admin workstation, Seesaw
1.1.3.1	Ensure /var Located On Separate Partition	Won't fix	Canonical has no plan to modify the cloud image partitions at this time.	All cluster nodes, Admin workstation, Seesaw
1.1.4.1	Ensure /var/tmp Located On Separate Partition	Won't fix	Canonical has no plan to modify the cloud image partitions at this time.	All cluster nodes, Admin workstation, Seesaw
1.1.5.1	Ensure /var/log Located On Separate Partition	Won't fix	Canonical has no plan to modify the cloud image partitions at this time.	All cluster nodes, Admin workstation, Seesaw
1.1.6.1	Ensure /var/log/audit Located On Separate Partition	Won't fix	Canonical has no plan to modify the cloud image partitions at this time.	All cluster nodes, Admin workstation, Seesaw
1.1.7.1	Ensure /home Located On Separate Partition	Won't fix	Canonical has no plan to modify the cloud image partitions at this time.	All cluster nodes, Admin workstation, Seesaw
1.4.1	Set Boot Loader Password in grub2	Depends on Environment	No root password is set on Ubuntu cloud images.	All cluster nodes, Admin workstation, Seesaw
1.4.3	Ensure Authentication Required for Single User Mode	Depends on Environment	No root password is set on Ubuntu cloud images.	All cluster nodes, Admin workstation, Seesaw
2.3.6	Uninstall rpcbind Package	Failed	rpcbind is installed on the Canonical cloud image, though it's not enabled by default. The rule is failing because it requires it to be not installed	All cluster nodes Admin workstation, Seesaw
3.3.7	Enable Kernel Parameter to Use Reverse Path Filtering on all IPv4 Interfaces	Depends on Environment	Asynchronous routing and reverse path origination is a requirement for delivering cluster load balancing.	All cluster nodes Seesaw
3.5.2.6	Set nftables configuration for loopback traffic	Won't fix	Anthos Network got affected by this rule.	All cluster nodes, Admin workstation, Seesaw
3.5.2.8	Ensure nftables default deny firewall policy	Depends on Environment	It is recommended that Google Distributed Cloud be deployed on a private network with appropriate firewall protections. The required firewall rules can be found here.	All cluster nodes, Admin workstation, Seesaw
4.2.3	Verify permissions of log files	Fail	This specific test is overly restrictive and unrealistic as many services may require a group to write log files. This item may be removed in a future benchmark.	All cluster nodes, Admin workstation, Seesaw
5.2.18	Limit Users' SSH Access	Depends on Environment	This is not configured by default.	All cluster nodes, Admin workstation, Seesaw
5.3.4	Ensure Users Re-Authenticate for Privilege Escalation - sudo	Depends on Environment	This is not configured by default.	All cluster nodes, Admin workstation, Seesaw
5.5.1.2	Set Password Maximum Age	Equivalent control	VMs for Google Distributed Cloud rely on ssh key for user login, instead of using password	All cluster nodes
6.1.10	Ensure All Files Are Owned by a User	Fail	Permissions have been left as default.	All cluster nodes

1.29 Versions

This section refers to these versions:

Google Distributed Cloud version	Ubuntu version	CIS Ubuntu Benchmark version	CIS level
1.29	22.04 LTS	v1.0.0	Level 2 Server

Status of Google Distributed Cloud

#	Recommendation	Status	Justification	Affected Components
1.1.2.1	Ensure /tmp Located On Separate Partition	Fail	Canonical has no plan to modify the cloud image partitions at this time.	All cluster nodes, Admin workstation, Seesaw
1.1.3.1	Ensure /var Located On Separate Partition	Won't fix	Canonical has no plan to modify the cloud image partitions at this time.	All cluster nodes, Admin workstation, Seesaw
1.1.4.1	Ensure /var/tmp Located On Separate Partition	Won't fix	Canonical has no plan to modify the cloud image partitions at this time.	All cluster nodes, Admin workstation, Seesaw
1.1.5.1	Ensure /var/log Located On Separate Partition	Won't fix	Canonical has no plan to modify the cloud image partitions at this time.	All cluster nodes, Admin workstation, Seesaw
1.1.6.1	Ensure /var/log/audit Located On Separate Partition	Won't fix	Canonical has no plan to modify the cloud image partitions at this time.	All cluster nodes, Admin workstation, Seesaw
1.1.7.1	Ensure /home Located On Separate Partition	Won't fix	Canonical has no plan to modify the cloud image partitions at this time.	All cluster nodes, Admin workstation, Seesaw
1.4.1	Set Boot Loader Password in grub2	Depends on Environment	No root password is set on Ubuntu cloud images.	All cluster nodes, Admin workstation, Seesaw
1.4.3	Ensure Authentication Required for Single User Mode	Depends on Environment	No root password is set on Ubuntu cloud images.	All cluster nodes, Admin workstation, Seesaw
2.3.6	Uninstall rpcbind Package	Failed	rpcbind is installed on the Canonical cloud image, though it's not enabled by default. The rule is failing because it requires it to be not installed	All cluster nodes Admin workstation, Seesaw
3.3.7	Enable Kernel Parameter to Use Reverse Path Filtering on all IPv4 Interfaces	Depends on Environment	Asynchronous routing and reverse path origination is a requirement for delivering cluster load balancing.	Non-admin-master nodes Seesaw
3.5.2.6	Set nftables configuration for loopback traffic	Won't fix	Anthos Network got affected by this rule.	All cluster nodes, Admin workstation, Seesaw
3.5.2.8	Ensure nftables default deny firewall policy	Depends on Environment	It is recommended that Google Distributed Cloud be deployed on a private network with appropriate firewall protections. The required firewall rules can be found here.	All cluster nodes, Admin workstation, Seesaw
4.2.3	Verify permissions of log files	Fail	This specific test is overly restrictive and unrealistic as many services may require a group to write log files. This item may be removed in a future benchmark.	All cluster nodes, Admin workstation, Seesaw
5.2.18	Limit Users' SSH Access	Depends on Environment	This is not configured by default.	All cluster nodes, Admin workstation, Seesaw
5.3.4	Ensure Users Re-Authenticate for Privilege Escalation - sudo	Depends on Environment	This is not configured by default.	All cluster nodes, Admin workstation, Seesaw
5.5.1.2	Set Password Maximum Age	Equivalent control	VMs for Google Distributed Cloud rely on ssh key for user login, instead of using password	All cluster nodes
6.1.10	Ensure All Files Are Owned by a User	Fail	Permissions have been left as default.	All cluster nodes

1.28 Versions

This section refers to these versions:

Google Distributed Cloud version	Ubuntu version	CIS Ubuntu Benchmark version	CIS level
1.28	22.04 LTS	v1.0.0	Level 2 Server

Status of Google Distributed Cloud

#	Recommendation	Status	Justification	Affected Components
1.1.2.1	Ensure /tmp Located On Separate Partition	Fail	Canonical has no plan to modify the cloud image partitions at this time.	All cluster nodes, Admin workstation, Seesaw
1.1.3.1	Ensure /var Located On Separate Partition	Won't fix	Canonical has no plan to modify the cloud image partitions at this time.	All cluster nodes, Admin workstation, Seesaw
1.1.4.1	Ensure /var/tmp Located On Separate Partition	Won't fix	Canonical has no plan to modify the cloud image partitions at this time.	All cluster nodes, Admin workstation, Seesaw
1.1.5.1	Ensure /var/log Located On Separate Partition	Won't fix	Canonical has no plan to modify the cloud image partitions at this time.	All cluster nodes, Admin workstation, Seesaw
1.1.6.1	Ensure /var/log/audit Located On Separate Partition	Won't fix	Canonical has no plan to modify the cloud image partitions at this time.	All cluster nodes, Admin workstation, Seesaw
1.1.7.1	Ensure /home Located On Separate Partition	Won't fix	Canonical has no plan to modify the cloud image partitions at this time.	All cluster nodes, Admin workstation, Seesaw
1.4.1	Set Boot Loader Password in grub2	Depends on Environment	No root password is set on Ubuntu cloud images.	All cluster nodes, Admin workstation, Seesaw
1.4.3	Ensure Authentication Required for Single User Mode	Depends on Environment	No root password is set on Ubuntu cloud images.	All cluster nodes, Admin workstation, Seesaw
2.3.6	Uninstall rpcbind Package	Failed	rpcbind is installed on the Canonical cloud image, though it's not enabled by default. The rule is failing because it requires it to be not installed	All cluster nodes Admin workstation, Seesaw
3.3.7	Enable Kernel Parameter to Use Reverse Path Filtering on all IPv4 Interfaces	Depends on Environment	Asynchronous routing and reverse path origination is a requirement for delivering cluster load balancing.	Non-admin-master nodes Seesaw
3.5.2.6	Set nftables configuration for loopback traffic	Won't fix	Anthos Network got affected by this rule.	All cluster nodes, Admin workstation, Seesaw
3.5.2.8	Ensure nftables default deny firewall policy	Depends on Environment	It is recommended that Google Distributed Cloud be deployed on a private network with appropriate firewall protections. The required firewall rules can be found here.	All cluster nodes, Admin workstation, Seesaw
4.2.3	Verify permissions of log files	Fail	This specific test is overly restrictive and unrealistic as many services may require a group to write log files. This item may be removed in a future benchmark.	All cluster nodes, Admin workstation, Seesaw
5.2.18	Limit Users' SSH Access	Depends on Environment	This is not configured by default.	All cluster nodes, Admin workstation, Seesaw
5.3.4	Ensure Users Re-Authenticate for Privilege Escalation - sudo	Depends on Environment	This is not configured by default.	All cluster nodes, Admin workstation, Seesaw
5.5.1.2	Set Password Maximum Age	Equivalent control	VMs for Google Distributed Cloud rely on ssh key for user login, instead of using password	All cluster nodes
6.1.10	Ensure All Files Are Owned by a User	Fail	Permissions have been left as default.	All cluster nodes

1.16 Versions

This section refers to these versions:

Google Distributed Cloud version	Ubuntu version	CIS Ubuntu Benchmark version	CIS level
1.16	20.04 LTS	v1.0.0	Level 2 Server

Status of Google Distributed Cloud

#	Recommendation	Scored/Not Scored	Status	Justification	Affected Components
1.1.2	Ensure /tmp is configured	Scored	Fail	Canonical has no plan to modify the cloud image partitions at this time.	All cluster nodes, Admin workstation, Seesaw
1.1.10	Ensure separate partition exists for /var	Scored	Won't fix	Canonical has no plan to modify the cloud image partitions at this time.	All cluster nodes, Admin workstation, Seesaw
1.1.11	Ensure separate partition exists for /var/tmp	Scored	Won't fix	Canonical has no plan to modify the cloud image partitions at this time.	All cluster nodes, Admin workstation, Seesaw
1.1.15	Ensure separate partition exists for /var/log	Scored	Won't fix	Canonical has no plan to modify the cloud image partitions at this time.	All cluster nodes, Admin workstation, Seesaw
1.1.16	Ensure separate partition exists for /var/log/audit	Scored	Won't fix	Canonical has no plan to modify the cloud image partitions at this time.	All cluster nodes, Admin workstation, Seesaw
1.1.17	Ensure separate partition exists for /home	Scored	Won't fix	Canonical has no plan to modify the cloud image partitions at this time.	All cluster nodes, Admin workstation, Seesaw
1.1.22	Ensure sticky bit is set on all world-writable directories	Scored	Fail	This could interfere with the functionality of Anthos and its services and is not enabled by default	All cluster nodes, Admin workstation
1.5.1	Ensure permissions on bootloader config are configured	Scored	Fail	Permissions have been left as default.	All cluster nodes, Seesaw
1.5.2	Ensure bootloader password is set	Scored	Depends on Environment	No root password is set on Ubuntu cloud images.	All cluster nodes, Admin workstation, Seesaw
1.5.3	Ensure authentication required for single user mode	Scored	Depends on Environment	No root password is set on Ubuntu cloud images.	All cluster nodes, Admin workstation, Seesaw
2.3.6	Ensure RPC is not installed	Scored	Failed	rpcbind is installed on the Canonical cloud image, though it's not enabled by default. The rule is failing because it requires it to be not installed	All cluster nodes
3.2.2	Ensure IP forwarding is disabled	Scored	Fail	IP forwarding is necessarily in order for Kubernetes (GKE) to correctly function and route traffic	All cluster nodes, Admin workstation, Seesaw
3.2.7	Ensure Reverse Path Filtering is enabled	Scored	Depends on Environment	Asynchronous routing and reverse path origination is a requirement for delivering cluster load balancing	Seesaw
3.5.3.2.1	Ensure default deny firewall policy	Scored	Depends on Environment	It is recommended that Google Distributed Cloud be deployed on a private network with appropriate firewall protections. The required firewall rules can be found here.	All cluster nodes, Admin workstation, Seesaw
3.5.3.2.2	Ensure loopback traffic is configured	Scored	Depends on Environment	Loopback interface usage is limited given the load balancing functionality used.	Seesaw
3.5.3.2.4	Ensure firewall rules exist for all open ports	Not Scored	Depends on Environment	It is recommended that Google Distributed Cloud be deployed on a private network with appropriate firewall protections. The required firewall rules can be found here.	All cluster nodes, Admin workstation, Seesaw
3.5.3.3.1	Ensure IPv6 default deny firewall policy	Scored	Depends on Environment	It is recommended that Google Distributed Cloud be deployed on a private network with appropriate firewall protections. The required firewall rules can be found here. Additionally, Anthos has no requirement for IPv6 under GA support.	All cluster nodes, Admin workstation, Seesaw
3.5.3.3.2	Ensure IPv6 loopback traffic is configured	Scored	Depends on Environment	Anthos has no requirement for IPv6 under GA support.	Admin control plane, Seesaw
4.1.1.3	Ensure auditing for processes that start prior to auditd is enabled	Scored	Fail	A known issue with our build process flags this as Failed, however this should be considered a false alarm. This will be remedied in the future.	All cluster nodes, Seesaw
4.1.11	Ensure use of privileged commands is collected	Scored	Fail	Some binaries are installed at runtime, so the runtime remediation is needed.	All cluster nodes, Admin workstation, Seesaw
4.2.1.5	Ensure rsyslog is configured to send logs to a remote log host	Scored	Depends on Environment	Google Distributed Cloud currently collects all journald logs (from system services). These can view these logs under "k8s_node"	All cluster nodes, Admin workstation, Seesaw
4.2.3	Ensure permissions on all logfiles are configured	Scored	Fail	This specific test is overly restrictive and unrealistic as many services may require a group to write log files. This item may be removed in a future benchmark.	All cluster nodes, Admin workstation, Seesaw
4.4	Ensure logrotate assigns appropriate permissions	Scored	Failed	Complying this rule could affect the current logging functionality	All cluster nodes, Seesaw
5.2.18	Ensure SSH access is limited	Scored	Depends on Environment	This is not configured by default. This can be configured to meet your specific requirements.	All cluster nodes, Admin workstation, Seesaw
5.2.20	Ensure SSH AllowTcpForwarding is disabled	Scored	Failed	Complying this rule could affect the current ssh tunnel functionality	All cluster nodes
5.4.1.1	Ensure password expiration is 365 days or less	Scored	Equivalent control	VMs for Google Distributed Cloud rely on ssh key for user login, instead of using password	All cluster nodes
6.1.10	Ensure no world writable files exist	Scored	Fail	Permissions have been left as default.	All cluster nodes
6.1.11	Ensure no unowned files or directories exist	Scored	Fail	Permissions have been left as default.	All cluster nodes
6.1.12	Ensure no ungrouped files or directories exist	Scored	Fail	Permissions have been left as default.	All cluster nodes
6.2.7	Ensure users' dot files are not group or world writable	Scored	Fail	The default settings for Ubuntu permit dot file group permissions due to compatibility	Admin workstation

Configure AIDE cron job

AIDE is a file integrity checking tool that ensures compliance with CIS L1 Server benchmark 1.4 Filesystem Integrity Checking. In Google Distributed Cloud, the AIDE process has been causing high resource usage issues.

The AIDE process on nodes is disabled by default to prevent resource issues. This will affect compliance with CIS L1 Server benchmark 1.4.2: Ensure filesystem integrity is regularly checked.

If you want to opt in to run the AIDE cron job, complete the following steps to re-enable AIDE:

Create a DaemonSet.

Here's a manifest for a DaemonSet:

apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: DaemonSet
metadata:
name: enable-aide-pool1
spec:
selector:
  matchLabels:
    app: enable-aide-pool1
template:
  metadata:
    labels:
      app: enable-aide-pool1
  spec:
    hostIPC: true
    hostPID: true
    nodeSelector:
      cloud.google.com/gke-nodepool: pool-1
    containers:
    - name: update-audit-rule
      image: ubuntu
      command: ["chroot", "/host", "bash", "-c"]
      args:
      - |
        set -x
        while true; do
          # change daily cronjob schedule
          minute=30;hour=5
          sed -E "s/([0-9]+ [0-9]+)(.*run-parts --report \/etc\/cron.daily.*)/$minute $hour\2/g" -i /etc/crontab

          # enable aide
          chmod 755 /etc/cron.daily/aide

          sleep 3600
        done
      volumeMounts:
      - name: host
        mountPath: /host
      securityContext:
        privileged: true
    volumes:
    - name: host
      hostPath:
        path: /

In the above manifest:

The AIDE cron job will only run on node pool pool-1 as specified by the nodeSelector cloud.google.com/gke-nodepool: pool-1. You can configure the AIDE process to run on as many node pools as you wish by specifying the pools under the nodeSelector field. To run the same cron job schedule across different node pools, remove the nodeSelector field. However, to avoid host resource congestions, we recommend you maintain separate schedules.
The cron job is scheduled to run daily at 5:30am as specified by the configuration minute=30;hour=5. You can configure different schedules for the AIDE cron job as required.

Copy the manifest to a file named enable-aide.yaml, and create the DaemonSet:
```
kubectl apply --kubeconfig USER_CLUSTER_KUBECONFIG -f enable-aide.yaml
```
where USER_CLUSTER_KUBECONFIG is the path of the kubeconfig file for your user cluster.