Planning Network Security

Starting with the Solaris Express 7/06 release, the generic installation has been changed so that all network services except Secure Shell are disabled or restricted to respond to local requests only. This change minimizes the potential vulnerabilities a remote attacker might try to exploit. In addition, the change provides a base for customers to enable only the services they require.

For Solaris Express releases, the hardening changes are automatically applied whenever a fresh install is performed. This effect is achieved by invoking the netservices command from the SMF upgrade file found in /var/svc/profile. Behavior is unchanged if the system is upgraded.

Restricted Security Specifics

Numerous services are fully disabled. Other services are still enabled, but these services are restricted to local connections only. The Secure Shell remains fully enabled.

For example, the following table lists network services that, for the Solaris 10 11/06 release, are restricted to local connections.

Table 4-6 Solaris 10 11/06 SMF Restricted Services

Service	FMRI	Property
rpcbind	`svc:/network/rpc/bind`	`config/local_only`
syslogd	`svc:/system/system-log`	`config/log_from_remote`
sendmail	`svc:/network/smtp:sendmail`	`config/local_only`
smcwebserver	`svc:/system/webconsole:console`	`options/tcp_listen`
WBEM	`svc:/application/management/wbem`	`options/tcp_listen`
X server	`svc:/application/x11/x11-server`	`options/tcp_listen`
dtlogin	`svc:/application/graphical-login/cde-login`	`dtlogin/args`
ToolTalk	`svc:/network/rpccde-ttdbserver:tcp`	`proto=ticotsord`
dtcm	`svc:/network/rpccde-calendar-manager`	`proto=ticits`
BSD print	`svc:/application/print/rfc1179:default`	`bind_addr=localhost`

Revising Security Settings After Installation

With the restricted network security feature, all of the affected services are controlled by the Service Management Framework (SMF). Any individual network service can be enabled after an initial installation by using the svcadm and svccfg commands. The netservices(1M) command can be used to switch the service startup behavior.

For further information about revising security settings, see How to Create an SMF Profile in System Administration Guide: Basic Administration. See also the following man pages.

netservices(1M)
svcadm(1M)
svccfg(1M) commands.