Details

Previous versions of software components that are not removed from the information system after updates have been installed may be exploited by adversaries. Some information technology products may remove older versions of software automatically from the information system.

Solution

Configure APT to remove all software components after updated versions have been installed.

Add or updated the following options to the ‘/etc/apt/apt.conf.d/50unattended-upgrades’ file:

Unattended-Upgrade::Remove-Unused-Dependencies ‘true’;
Unattended-Upgrade::Remove-Unused-Kernel-Packages ‘true’;

Supportive Information

The following resource is also helpful.

• https://dl.dod.cyber.mil/wp-content/uploads/stigs/zip/U_CAN_Ubuntu_18-04_LTS_V2R4_STIG.zip

This security hardening control applies to the following category of controls within NIST 800-53: System and Information Integrity.This control applies to the following type of system Unix.

References

• 800-53|SI-2(6)
• CAT|II
• CCI|CCI-002617
• Rule-ID|SV-219156r610963_rule
• STIG-ID|UBTU-18-010017
• STIG-Legacy|SV-109641
• STIG-Legacy|V-100537
• Vuln-ID|V-219156

Source

• Tenable.com/audits