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Disable Access to Network bpf() Syscall From Unprivileged Processes

An XCCDF Rule

Description

To prevent unprivileged processes from using the bpf() syscall the kernel.unprivileged_bpf_disabled kernel parameter must be set to 1 or 2. Writing 1 to this entry will disable unprivileged calls to bpf(); once disabled, calling bpf() without CAP_SYS_ADMIN or CAP_BPF will return -EPERM. Once set to 1, this can't be cleared from the running kernel anymore. To set the runtime status of the kernel.unprivileged_bpf_disabled kernel parameter, run the following command:

$ sudo sysctl -w kernel.unprivileged_bpf_disabled=1
To make sure that the setting is persistent, add the following line to a file in the directory /etc/sysctl.d:
kernel.unprivileged_bpf_disabled = 1
Writing 2 to this entry will also disable unprivileged calls to bpf(), however, an admin can still change this setting later on, if needed, by writing 0 or 1 to this entry. To set the runtime status of the kernel.unprivileged_bpf_disabled kernel parameter, run the following command:
$ sudo sysctl -w kernel.unprivileged_bpf_disabled=2
To make sure that the setting is persistent, add the following line to a file in the directory /etc/sysctl.d:
kernel.unprivileged_bpf_disabled = 2

Rationale

Loading and accessing the packet filters programs and maps using the bpf() syscall has the potential of revealing sensitive information about the kernel state.

ID
xccdf_org.ssgproject.content_rule_sysctl_kernel_unprivileged_bpf_disabled_accept_default
Severity
Medium
References
Updated



Remediation - Ansible

- name: Gather the package facts
  package_facts:
    manager: auto
  tags:
  - NIST-800-53-AC-6
  - NIST-800-53-SC-7(10)

Remediation - Shell Script

# Remediation is applicable only in certain platforms
if rpm --quiet -q kernel; then

# Comment out any occurrences of kernel.unprivileged_bpf_disabled from /etc/sysctl.d/*.conf files

for f in /etc/sysctl.d/*.conf /run/sysctl.d/*.conf /usr/local/lib/sysctl.d/*.conf; do