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The Ubuntu operating system must implement nonexecutable data to protect its memory from unauthorized code execution.

An XCCDF Rule

Description

<VulnDiscussion>Some adversaries launch attacks with the intent of executing code in nonexecutable regions of memory or in memory locations that are prohibited. Security safeguards employed to protect memory include, for example, data execution prevention and address space layout randomization. Data execution prevention safeguards can either be hardware-enforced or software-enforced with hardware providing the greater strength of mechanism. Examples of attacks are buffer overflow attacks.</VulnDiscussion><FalsePositives></FalsePositives><FalseNegatives></FalseNegatives><Documentable>false</Documentable><Mitigations></Mitigations><SeverityOverrideGuidance></SeverityOverrideGuidance><PotentialImpacts></PotentialImpacts><ThirdPartyTools></ThirdPartyTools><MitigationControl></MitigationControl><Responsibility></Responsibility><IAControls></IAControls>

ID
SV-238368r958928_rule
Severity
Medium
References
Updated



Remediation - Manual Procedure

Configure the Ubuntu operating system to enable NX. 
 
If "nx" is not showing up in "/proc/cpuinfo", and the system's BIOS setup configuration permits toggling the No Execution bit, set it to "enable".