Disable storing core dumps

An XCCDF Rule

Description

The kernel.core_pattern option specifies the core dumpfile pattern name. It can be set to an empty string. In this case, the kernel behaves differently based on another related option. If kernel.core_uses_pid is set to 1, then a file named as .PID (where PID is process ID of the crashed process) is created in the working directory. If kernel.core_uses_pid is set to 0, no coredump is saved. To set the runtime status of the kernel.core_pattern kernel parameter, run the following command:

$ sudo sysctl -w kernel.core_pattern=

To make sure that the setting is persistent, add the following line to a file in the directory /etc/sysctl.d:

kernel.core_pattern =

Rationale

A core dump includes a memory image taken at the time the operating system terminates an application. The memory image could contain sensitive data and is generally useful only for developers trying to debug problems.

ID: xccdf_org.ssgproject.content_rule_sysctl_kernel_core_pattern_empty_string
Severity: Medium
References: FMT_SMF_EXT.1
Updated: about 1 year ago

# Remediation is applicable only in certain platforms
if [ ! -f /.dockerenv ] && [ ! -f /run/.containerenv ]; then

# Comment out any occurrences of kernel.core_pattern from /etc/sysctl.d/*.conf files
for f in /etc/sysctl.d/*.conf /run/sysctl.d/*.conf; do
  matching_list=$(grep -P '^(?!#).*[\s]*kernel.core_pattern.*$' $f | uniq )
  if ! test -z "$matching_list"; then
    while IFS= read -r entry; do
      escaped_entry=$(sed -e 's|/|\\/|g' <<< "$entry")
      # comment out "kernel.core_pattern" matches to preserve user data
      sed -i "s/^${escaped_entry}$/# &/g" $f
    done <<< "$matching_list"
  fi
done

#
# Set runtime for kernel.core_pattern
#
/sbin/sysctl -q -n -w kernel.core_pattern=""

#
# If kernel.core_pattern present in /etc/sysctl.conf, change value to empty
#	else, add "kernel.core_pattern =" to /etc/sysctl.conf
#
# Test if the config_file is a symbolic link. If so, use --follow-symlinks with sed.
# Otherwise, regular sed command will do.
sed_command=('sed' '-i')
if test -L "/etc/sysctl.conf"; then
    sed_command+=('--follow-symlinks')
fi

# Strip any search characters in the key arg so that the key can be replaced without
# adding any search characters to the config file.
stripped_key=$(sed 's/[\^=\$,;+]*//g' <<< "^kernel.core_pattern")

# shellcheck disable=SC2059
printf -v formatted_output "%s=" "$stripped_key"

# If the key exists, change it. Otherwise, add it to the config_file.
# We search for the key string followed by a word boundary (matched by \>),
# so if we search for 'setting', 'setting2' won't match.
if LC_ALL=C grep -q -m 1 -i -e "^kernel.core_pattern\\>" "/etc/sysctl.conf"; then
    escaped_formatted_output=$(sed -e 's|/|\\/|g' <<< "$formatted_output")
    "${sed_command[@]}" "s/^kernel.core_pattern\\>.*/$escaped_formatted_output/gi" "/etc/sysctl.conf"
else
    # \n is precaution for case where file ends without trailing newline

    printf '%s\n' "$formatted_output" >> "/etc/sysctl.conf"
fi

else
    >&2 echo 'Remediation is not applicable, nothing was done'
fi

- name: List /etc/sysctl.d/*.conf files
  find:
    paths:
    - /etc/sysctl.d/
    - /run/sysctl.d/
    contains: ^[\s]*kernel.core_pattern.*$    patterns: '*.conf'
    file_type: any
  register: find_sysctl_d
  when: ansible_virtualization_type not in ["docker", "lxc", "openvz", "podman", "container"]
  tags:
  - disable_strategy
  - low_complexity
  - medium_disruption
  - medium_severity
  - reboot_required
  - sysctl_kernel_core_pattern_empty_string

- name: Comment out any occurrences of kernel.core_pattern from /etc/sysctl.d/*.conf
    files
  replace:
    path: '{{ item.path }}'
    regexp: ^[\s]*kernel.core_pattern
    replace: '#kernel.core_pattern'
  loop: '{{ find_sysctl_d.files }}'
  when: ansible_virtualization_type not in ["docker", "lxc", "openvz", "podman", "container"]
  tags:
  - disable_strategy
  - low_complexity
  - medium_disruption
  - medium_severity
  - reboot_required
  - sysctl_kernel_core_pattern_empty_string

- name: Comment out any occurrences of kernel.core_pattern with value from /etc/sysctl.conf
    files
  replace:
    path: /etc/sysctl.conf
    regexp: ^[\s]*kernel.core_pattern([ \t]*=[ \t]*\S+)
    replace: '#kernel.core_pattern\1'
  when: ansible_virtualization_type not in ["docker", "lxc", "openvz", "podman", "container"]
  tags:
  - disable_strategy
  - low_complexity
  - medium_disruption
  - medium_severity
  - reboot_required
  - sysctl_kernel_core_pattern_empty_string

- name: Ensure sysctl kernel.core_pattern is set to empty
  sysctl:
    name: kernel.core_pattern
    value: ' '
    state: present
    reload: true
  when: ansible_virtualization_type not in ["docker", "lxc", "openvz", "podman", "container"]
  tags:
  - disable_strategy
  - low_complexity
  - medium_disruption
  - medium_severity
  - reboot_required
  - sysctl_kernel_core_pattern_empty_string

Disable storing core dumps

Description

Rationale

Remediation - Shell Script

Remediation - Ansible