Debian GNU/Linux · Accounts & authentication

Install sudo for administrative access

When it fails: sudo is not installed. Without sudo, administrators share the root password or log in as root, and their actions cannot be traced to a person.

CB-DEB-AUTH-004mediumactiveautomatedautomated fixprofile core

As released in v0.1.0 beta · pre-release. Current state.

Description

sudo lets authorized users run commands as root (or another user) with their own password, according to rules in /etc/sudoers and /etc/sudoers.d/. Every command is logged with the name of the user who ran it.

Rationale

Administration through personal accounts and sudo replaces a shared root password, gives each administrator only the rights they need, and leaves an audit trail that names who did what.

Impact

None known. Debian installs sudo when no root password is set during installation, and the cloud images ship it.

Audit

Run dpkg -s sudo. The package must be installed.

Automated: every check must pass. Scanners report each check by its id.

package

The sudo package is installed.

name: sudo
state: installed

Remediation

Run apt install sudo, then grant administrators access by adding them to the sudo group.

Restartnone
Disruptionnone

install

Generated from check package: the engine writes the fix for every output, it sets the expected value and the check runs again after.

Each release turns these fixes into remediate.sh and an Ansible role per profile: dry run by default, a fix runs only when its check fails.

References

Mappings

FrameworkIDRelationNote
ANSSI-BP-028 - Recommandations de configuration d'un système GNU/Linux2.0R33partialR33 asks for accountable administration; sudo is the means.
NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 55.1.1AC-6related

How this control relates to the other framework's: equivalent, stricter, looser, partial or related.

Threats mitigated

People and lifecycle

Authors
Verified2026-10-18 by Sn0wAlice on 12, Proxmox VM, Debian 12 genericcloud image, kernel 6.1.0-54-cloud-amd64. Generated check, fix and check again for profiles core and server-hardened; state kept after reboot.
Verified2026-10-18 by Sn0wAlice on 13, Proxmox VM, Debian 13 genericcloud image, kernel 6.12.113+deb13-cloud-amd64. Generated check, fix and check again for profiles core and server-hardened; state kept after reboot.
Introduced inv0.1.0
Created, updated2026-10-18, 2026-10-18
Translationsfr