Skip to content

Ensure auditd Collects Information on Kernel Module Loading and Unloading - finit_module

An XCCDF Rule

Description

If the auditd daemon is configured to use the augenrules program to read audit rules during daemon startup (the default), add the following lines to a file with suffix .rules in the directory /etc/audit/rules.d to capture kernel module loading and unloading events, setting ARCH to either b32 or b64 as appropriate for your system:

-a always,exit -F arch=ARCH -S finit_module -F auid>=1000 -F auid!=unset -F key=modules
If the auditd daemon is configured to use the auditctl utility to read audit rules during daemon startup, add the following lines to /etc/audit/audit.rules file in order to capture kernel module loading and unloading events, setting ARCH to either b32 or b64 as appropriate for your system:
-a always,exit -F arch=ARCH -S finit_module -F auid>=1000 -F auid!=unset -F key=modules

Rationale

The addition/removal of kernel modules can be used to alter the behavior of the kernel and potentially introduce malicious code into kernel space. It is important to have an audit trail of modules that have been introduced into the kernel.

ID
xccdf_org.ssgproject.content_rule_audit_rules_kernel_module_loading_finit
Severity
Medium
References
Updated



Remediation - Ansible

- name: Gather the package facts
  package_facts:
    manager: auto
  tags:
  - DISA-STIG-OL08-00-030360
  - NIST-800-171-3.1.7

Remediation - Shell Script

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

# First perform the remediation of the syscall rule
# Retrieve hardware architecture of the underlying system
# Note: 32-bit and 64-bit kernel syscall numbers not always line up =>