Disable Kernel Image Loading

An XCCDF Rule

Description

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

$ sudo sysctl -w kernel.kexec_load_disabled=1

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

kernel.kexec_load_disabled = 1

Rationale

Disabling kexec_load allows greater control of the kernel memory. It makes it impossible to load another kernel image after it has been disabled.

ID: xccdf_org.ssgproject.content_rule_sysctl_kernel_kexec_load_disabled
Severity: Medium
References: CCI-001749

CM-6

SRG-OS-000366-GPOS-00153 SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227
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.kexec_load_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
  matching_list=$(grep -P '^(?!#).*[\s]*kernel.kexec_load_disabled.*$' $f | uniq )
  if ! test -z "$matching_list"; then
    while IFS= read -r entry; do
      escaped_entry=$(sed -e 's|/|\\/|g' <<< "$entry")
      # comment out "kernel.kexec_load_disabled" 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 kernel.kexec_load_disabled
#
/sbin/sysctl -q -n -w kernel.kexec_load_disabled="1"

#
# If kernel.kexec_load_disabled present in /etc/sysctl.conf, change value to "1"
#	else, add "kernel.kexec_load_disabled = 1" 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' <<< "^kernel.kexec_load_disabled")

# shellcheck disable=SC2059
printf -v formatted_output "%s = %s" "$stripped_key" "1"

# 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.kexec_load_disabled\\>" "${SYSCONFIG_FILE}"; then
    escaped_formatted_output=$(sed -e 's|/|\\/|g' <<< "$formatted_output")
    LC_ALL=C sed -i --follow-symlinks "s/^kernel.kexec_load_disabled\\>.*/$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/    contains: ^[\s]*kernel.kexec_load_disabled.*$
    patterns: '*.conf'
    file_type: any
  register: find_sysctl_d
  when: ansible_virtualization_type not in ["docker", "lxc", "openvz", "podman", "container"]
  tags:
  - NIST-800-53-CM-6
  - disable_strategy
  - low_complexity
  - medium_disruption
  - medium_severity
  - reboot_required
  - sysctl_kernel_kexec_load_disabled

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

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

Disable Kernel Image Loading

Description

Rationale

Remediation - Shell Script

Remediation - Ansible