| Appendix |
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Rarely, security vulnerabilities are detected in the operating systems and third-party components that are used by
Aspera. Aspera publishes security bulletins immediately that describe the affected products and recommended
remediation steps.
Security Configuration
Recommended security settings vary depending on the products you are using and how they interact. See the
following subsections for your Aspera products.
HST Server
1.
Configure your SSH Server.
Aspera recommends that you:
• Open TCP/33001 and keep TCP/22 open until users are notified that they should switch to TCP/33001.
• Once users are notified, block TCP/22 and allow traffic only on TCP/33001.
The following steps open TCP/33001 and block TCP/22.
a) Open the SSH configuration file.
/etc/ssh/sshd_config
If you do not have an existing configuration for OpenSSH, or need to update an existing one, Aspera
recommends the following reference:
https://wiki.mozilla.org/Security/Guidelines/OpenSSH
b) Change the SSH port from TCP/22 to TCP/33001.
Add TCP/33001 and comment out TCP/22 to match the following example:
#Port 22
Port 33001
HST Server admins must also update the
SshPort
value in the
<WEB...>
section of
aspera.conf
.
Note:
If you are using the HST Server web UI, you must also update the
SshPort
value in the
<WEB...>
section of
aspera.conf
Configuring your Web UI Settings
on page 25.
Once this setting takes effect:
• Aspera clients must set the TCP port to 33001 when creating connections in the GUI or specify
-P
33001
for command line transfers.
• Server administrators should use
ssh -p 33001
to access the server through SSH.
c) Disable non-admin SSH tunneling.
SSH tunneling can be used to circumvent firewalls and access sensitive areas of your company's network.
Add the following lines to the end of
sshd_config
(or modify them if they already exist) to disable SSH
tunneling:
AllowTcpForwarding no
Match Group root
AllowTcpForwarding yes
Depending on your
sshd_config
file, you might have additional instances of
AllowTCPForwarding
that are set to the default
Yes
. Review your
sshd_config
file for other instances and disable if necessary.
Disabling TCP forwarding does not improve security unless users are also denied shell access, because
with shell access they can still install their own forwarders. Aspera recommends assigning users to aspshell,
described in the following section.
d) Disable password authentication and enable public key authentication.
Public key authentication provides a stronger authentication method than passwords, and can prevent brute-
force SSH attacks if all password-based authentication methods are disabled.
Important:
Before proceeding: