Enable Kernel Parameter to Enforce DAC on FIFOs

An XCCDF Rule

Description

To set the runtime status of the fs.protected_fifos kernel parameter, run the following command:

$ sudo sysctl -w fs.protected_fifos=2

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

fs.protected_fifos = 2

Rationale

This parameter is available since Linux Kernel 4.19 and allows to prohibit opening FIFOs that are not owned by the user in world and group writeable sticky directories. It avoids unintentional writes to an attacker-controlled FIFO where a program expects to create the regular file.

ID: xccdf_org.ssgproject.content_rule_sysctl_fs_protected_fifos
Severity: Medium
References: AC-6(1) CM-6(a)
Updated: about 1 year ago

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

# Comment out any occurrences of fs.protected_fifos from /etc/sysctl.d/*.conf files

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

#
# Set sysctl config file which to save the desired value
#

SYSCONFIG_FILE="/etc/sysctl.conf"


#
# Set runtime for fs.protected_fifos
#
/sbin/sysctl -q -n -w fs.protected_fifos="2"

#
# If fs.protected_fifos present in /etc/sysctl.conf, change value to "2"
#	else, add "fs.protected_fifos = 2" to /etc/sysctl.conf
#

# 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' <<< "^fs.protected_fifos")

# shellcheck disable=SC2059
printf -v formatted_output "%s = %s" "$stripped_key" "2"

# 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 "^fs.protected_fifos\\>" "${SYSCONFIG_FILE}"; then
    escaped_formatted_output=$(sed -e 's|/|\\/|g' <<< "$formatted_output")
    LC_ALL=C sed -i --follow-symlinks "s/^fs.protected_fifos\\>.*/$escaped_formatted_output/gi" "${SYSCONFIG_FILE}"
else
    if [[ -s "${SYSCONFIG_FILE}" ]] && [[ -n "$(tail -c 1 -- "${SYSCONFIG_FILE}" || true)" ]]; then
        LC_ALL=C sed -i --follow-symlinks '$a'\\ "${SYSCONFIG_FILE}"
    fi
    printf '%s\n' "$formatted_output" >> "${SYSCONFIG_FILE}"
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/
    - /usr/local/lib/sysctl.d/    - /usr/lib/sysctl.d/
    contains: ^[\s]*fs.protected_fifos.*$
    patterns: '*.conf'
    file_type: any
  register: find_sysctl_d
  when: ansible_virtualization_type not in ["docker", "lxc", "openvz", "podman", "container"]
  tags:
  - NIST-800-53-AC-6(1)
  - NIST-800-53-CM-6(a)
  - disable_strategy
  - low_complexity
  - medium_disruption
  - medium_severity
  - reboot_required
  - sysctl_fs_protected_fifos

- name: Comment out any occurrences of fs.protected_fifos from config files
  replace:
    path: '{{ item.path }}'
    regexp: ^[\s]*fs.protected_fifos
    replace: '#fs.protected_fifos'
  loop: '{{ find_sysctl_d.files }}'
  when: ansible_virtualization_type not in ["docker", "lxc", "openvz", "podman", "container"]
  tags:
  - NIST-800-53-AC-6(1)
  - NIST-800-53-CM-6(a)
  - disable_strategy
  - low_complexity
  - medium_disruption
  - medium_severity
  - reboot_required
  - sysctl_fs_protected_fifos

- name: Ensure sysctl fs.protected_fifos is set to 2
  sysctl:
    name: fs.protected_fifos
    value: '2'
    sysctl_file: /etc/sysctl.conf
    state: present
    reload: true
  when: ansible_virtualization_type not in ["docker", "lxc", "openvz", "podman", "container"]
  tags:
  - NIST-800-53-AC-6(1)
  - NIST-800-53-CM-6(a)
  - disable_strategy
  - low_complexity
  - medium_disruption
  - medium_severity
  - reboot_required
  - sysctl_fs_protected_fifos

Enable Kernel Parameter to Enforce DAC on FIFOs

Description

Rationale

Remediation - Shell Script

Remediation - Ansible