Restrict usage of ptrace to descendant processes

An XCCDF Rule

Description

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

$ sudo sysctl -w kernel.yama.ptrace_scope=1

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

kernel.yama.ptrace_scope = 1

Rationale

Unrestricted usage of ptrace allows compromised binaries to run ptrace on another processes of the user. Like this, the attacker can steal sensitive information from the target processes (e.g. SSH sessions, web browser, ...) without any additional assistance from the user (i.e. without resorting to phishing).

ID: xccdf_org.ssgproject.content_rule_sysctl_kernel_yama_ptrace_scope
Severity: Medium
References: BP28(R25)

CCI-000366

SC-7(10)

SRG-OS-000132-GPOS-00067 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.yama.ptrace_scope 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=$(grep -P '^(?!#).*[\s]*kernel.yama.ptrace_scope.*$' $f | uniq )
  if ! test -z "$matching_list"; then
    while IFS= read -r entry; do
      escaped_entry=$(sed -e 's|/|\\/|g' <<< "$entry")
      # comment out "kernel.yama.ptrace_scope" 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.yama.ptrace_scope
#
/sbin/sysctl -q -n -w kernel.yama.ptrace_scope="1"

#
# If kernel.yama.ptrace_scope present in /etc/sysctl.conf, change value to "1"
#	else, add "kernel.yama.ptrace_scope = 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.yama.ptrace_scope")

# 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.yama.ptrace_scope\\>" "${SYSCONFIG_FILE}"; then
    escaped_formatted_output=$(sed -e 's|/|\\/|g' <<< "$formatted_output")
    LC_ALL=C sed -i --follow-symlinks "s/^kernel.yama.ptrace_scope\\>.*/$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.yama.ptrace_scope.*$
    patterns: '*.conf'
    file_type: any
  register: find_sysctl_d
  when: ansible_virtualization_type not in ["docker", "lxc", "openvz", "podman", "container"]
  tags:
  - NIST-800-53-SC-7(10)
  - disable_strategy
  - low_complexity
  - medium_disruption
  - medium_severity
  - reboot_required
  - sysctl_kernel_yama_ptrace_scope

- name: Comment out any occurrences of kernel.yama.ptrace_scope from config files
  replace:
    path: '{{ item.path }}'
    regexp: ^[\s]*kernel.yama.ptrace_scope
    replace: '#kernel.yama.ptrace_scope'
  loop: '{{ find_sysctl_d.files }}'
  when: ansible_virtualization_type not in ["docker", "lxc", "openvz", "podman", "container"]
  tags:
  - NIST-800-53-SC-7(10)
  - disable_strategy
  - low_complexity
  - medium_disruption
  - medium_severity
  - reboot_required
  - sysctl_kernel_yama_ptrace_scope

- name: Ensure sysctl kernel.yama.ptrace_scope is set to 1
  sysctl:
    name: kernel.yama.ptrace_scope
    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-SC-7(10)
  - disable_strategy
  - low_complexity
  - medium_disruption
  - medium_severity
  - reboot_required
  - sysctl_kernel_yama_ptrace_scope

Restrict usage of ptrace to descendant processes

Description

Rationale

Remediation - Shell Script

Remediation - Ansible