Ansible Role: Security

Important Changes: As of v0.7, the role no longer supports the security_enforce_strong_passwords, security_log_after_failed_logins and security_nproc_limit options. Bad PAM configuration can lock you out of the system, so I'll have to find a better way to implement these.

Remember, securing YOUR PC/server is YOUR OWN responsibility. This is a very basic template and it should be used as a template, not a complete solution.

This role performs some basic security configuration on RedHat/Debian/Archlinux based Linux systems, like:

• Install and configure fail2ban to monitor bad SSH logins.
• Basic SSH hardening like
  • Disable root login.
  • Disable password authentication.
  • Enable key-based authentication.
  • Change the default port.
  • Disable known weak algorithms.
• Set up automatic updates.
• Basic kernel-hardening.
• Basic TCP/IP stack hardening.
• Remove packages of your choice.
• Disable core dumps, using limits.

Requirements

• After running this role, SSH access will only be possible using public keys, therefore, your SSH keys must be already copied to the remote host. See this ArchWiki entry on how to easily copy your SSH keys to the remote host.
• Basic understanding of what each setting does.

Role Variables

• SSH
• fail2ban
• Remove packages
• Kernel hardening
• TCP/IP stack hardening
• Auto updates
• PAM

Dependencies

None.

Example Playbook

Including an example of how to use your role (for instance, with variables passed in as parameters) is always nice for users too:

- hosts: server
  vars_files:
    - vars/main.yml

  roles:
    - { role: chzerv.security }

The vars/main.yml file:

security_kern_go_hardcore: true
security_net_go_hardcore: true
security_autoupdates_enabled: true
security_autoupdates_type: "security"
security_fail2ban_enabled: true
security_fail2ban_harden_service: true

License

MIT / BSD

Author Information

Xristos Zervakis