Upgrade Apache HTTP Server 2.2 to 2.4 in RHEL and CentOS 7 -

Upgrade Apache HTTP Server 2.2 to 2.4 in RHEL and CentOS 7

Last updated on: 2021-05-26

Authored by: Rackspace Community

If you recently performed a compliance security scan, the results might look like the following example:

Apache HTTP Server Zero-Length Directory Name in LD_LIBRARY_PATH Vulnerability, CVE-2012-0883
Apache HTTP Server mod_rewrite Terminal Escape Sequence Vulnerability, CVE-2013-1862
Apache HTTP Server XSS Vulnerabilities via Hostnames, CVE-2012-3499 CVE-2012-4558

Depending on the code base, the Apache® HTTP Server might have already mitigated these security issues. The scan checks the server’s Apache version to determine if the installed version resolves the security issue. However, some compliance security scans use only the version of Apache to determine if the server is vulnerable to Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) rather than detecting vulnerabilities directly.

Such scans almost always generate a false positive. If you enable automatic updates, the version might remain the same, even if another release patches the vulnerability. Thus, the scan might mark the vulnerability as positive. This result might also happen if your provider’s scans show that your server is no longer vulnerable, even if previous scans have identified vulnerabilities.

Use the following steps if your security audit reveals that your compliance security scans only use the version of Apache to identify vulnerabilities on your Apache2 server. Edit the configuration file for the Hypertext Transfer Protocol daemon (HTTPd).

Open /etc/apache2/conf.d/httpd.conf in an editor.
Add the following lines and remove the version information:
```
ServerSignature Off
ServerTokens Prod
```
Note: Your server shouldn’t provide a version signature, and your penetration testing company should recommend that you disable versions.

Update from Apache 2.2 to Apache 2.4

Use the following steps to update Apache 2.2 to Apache 2.4.

Run the following command to stop HTTPd and any monitoring processes such as Nimbus to avoid alerts:
```
service httpd stop
```
Run the following commands to back up your virtual host configurations, ensuring that you include any additional directories you added, such as vhost:
```
cd /etc/httpd
tar -cvf /tmp/apache_vhostconfig.tar conf conf.d vhosts
```
Run the following command to install the yum-plugin-replace package, which resolves package conflicts during package replacement:
```
 yum install yum-plugin-replace
```

Before you proceed, run the following commands to check the installed version and the version that you want to install:

 apachectl -V
 yum search httpd
 yum info httpd

Your output should appear similar to the following example, which uses the command yum info httpd24u.x86_64:

Loaded plugins: replace, rhnplugin, security
This system is receiving updates from RHN Classic or RHN Satellite.
 Available Packages
Name        : httpd24u
Arch        : x86_64
Version     : 2.4.23
Release     : 4.ius.el6
Size        : 1.2 M
Repo        : rackspace-rhel-x86_64-server-6-ius
Summary     : Apache HTTP Server
License     : ASL 2.0
Description : The Apache HTTP Server is a powerful, efficient, and extensible
        : web server.

Install HTTPd 2.4 by running the following command:
```
yum replace httpd --replace-with=httpd24u
```
You must also install Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) by running the following command:
```
yum install mod_ldap
```
In Apache 2.4, you must use Require directives for Internet Protocol (IP) access restriction instead of Order, Deny, and Allow. As a result, you need to change the Order, Deny, and Allow statements in your /etc/httpd/conf.d/server-status.conf file to use Require statements. Because you might have these in the .htaccess files for other websites, ensure that you check your document roots carefully to avoid breaking your websites because of missing Require directives.

Your existing /etc/httpd/conf.d/server-status.conf file should appear similar to the following example.
```
<Location /server-status>
    SetHandler server-status
    Order deny,allow
    Deny from all
    Allow from 127.0.0.1
</Location>
```
Replace the Order, Deny, and Allow statements with the configuration in the following example.
```
<Location /server-status>
    SetHandler server-status
    Require all granted
    Require host 127.0.0.1
</Location>
```
Note: This syntax change also applies to the virtual hosts in the conf.d and httpd.conf vhost configurations.

Change the Order, Deny, and Allow statements in conf.d to Require statements.

#    Order deny,allow
#    Deny from all
Require all denied

#    Order deny,allow
#    Allow from all
Require all granted

In the same file, change Options -Indexes FollowSymLinks to Options -Indexes +FollowSymLinks.
In /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf, change the Order, Deny, and Allow statements to Require statements, as shown in step 8.

In /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf, set as comments the LoadModule directives for modules that are no longer used.

#2.4 upgrade LoadModule authn_alias_module modules/mod_authn_alias.so
#2.4 upgrade LoadModule authn_default_module modules/mod_authn_default.so
#2.4 upgrade LoadModule authz_default_module modules/mod_authz_default.so
#2.4 upgrade LoadModule disk_cache_module modules/mod_disk_cache.so

Edit /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf to add the following line with the other authz modules.
```
LoadModule authz_core_module modules/mod_authz_core.so
```

Add the following lines to the bottom of the block of LoadModule statements.

LoadModule mpm_prefork_module modules/mod_mpm_prefork.so
LoadModule unixd_module modules/mod_unixd.so
LoadModule slotmem_shm_module modules/mod_slotmem_shm.so
LoadModule ssl_module modules/mod_ssl.so
LoadModule socache_shmcb_module modules/mod_socache_shmcb.so

(Optional) Download a compatible version of the Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) Dispatcher module

If the HTTPd installation uses the Adobe® Experience Manager (AEM) Dispatcher module, you must use the following steps to download the compatible file for Apache HTTP Server 2.4.

Run the following commands to extract the dispatcher-apache2.4-4.1.11.so file from the Tape ARchive (TAR) file into /etc/httpd/modules/. Use only this file for this purpose.
```
 cd /etc/httpd/modules
 rm mod_dispatcher.so
 ln -s /etc/httpd/modules/dispatcher-apache2.4-4.1.11.so mod_dispatcher.so
```
Because SSL Mutex is deprecated, you need to edit /etc/httpd/conf.d/ssl.conf to change SSLMutex default to Mutex default.

For more details, see the Apache documentation about the Mutex Directive.

Critical: Restart the HTTPd

After you complete the steps in this article, you must restart HTTPd and verify that it’s enabled and running by using the following steps:

Run the following command to restart HTTPd:
```
 service httpd start
```
Ensure that the service is enabled and running and re-enable any previously enabled monitoring:
- On CentOS® 7 or Red Hat® Enterprise Linux® (RHEL) 7, run the following commands:
```
systemctl enable httpd

systemctl status httpd
```

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