Disable the use of user namespaces

An XCCDF Rule

Description

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

$ sudo sysctl -w user.max_user_namespaces=0

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

user.max_user_namespaces = 0

When containers are deployed on the machine, the value should be set to large non-zero value.

warning alert: Warning

This configuration baseline was created to deploy the base operating system for general purpose workloads. When the operating system is configured for certain purposes, such as to host Linux Containers, it is expected that user.max_user_namespaces will be enabled.

Rationale

It is detrimental for operating systems to provide, or install by default, functionality exceeding requirements or system objectives. These unnecessary capabilities or services are often overlooked and therefore may remain unsecured. They increase the risk to the platform by providing additional attack vectors. User namespaces are used primarily for Linux containers. The value 0 disallows the use of user namespaces.

ID: xccdf_org.ssgproject.content_rule_sysctl_user_max_user_namespaces
Severity: Medium
References: CCI-000366

CM-6(a) SC-39

FMT_SMF_EXT.1

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 user.max_user_namespaces 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=$(grep -P '^(?!#).*[\s]*user.max_user_namespaces.*$' $f | uniq )
  if ! test -z "$matching_list"; then
    while IFS= read -r entry; do
      escaped_entry=$(sed -e 's|/|\\/|g' <<< "$entry")
      # comment out "user.max_user_namespaces" 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 user.max_user_namespaces
#
/sbin/sysctl -q -n -w user.max_user_namespaces="0"

#
# If user.max_user_namespaces present in /etc/sysctl.conf, change value to "0"
#	else, add "user.max_user_namespaces = 0" 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' <<< "^user.max_user_namespaces")

# shellcheck disable=SC2059
printf -v formatted_output "%s = %s" "$stripped_key" "0"

# 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 "^user.max_user_namespaces\\>" "${SYSCONFIG_FILE}"; then
    escaped_formatted_output=$(sed -e 's|/|\\/|g' <<< "$formatted_output")
    LC_ALL=C sed -i --follow-symlinks "s/^user.max_user_namespaces\\>.*/$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]*user.max_user_namespaces.*$
    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(a)
  - NIST-800-53-SC-39
  - disable_strategy
  - low_complexity
  - medium_disruption
  - medium_severity
  - reboot_required
  - sysctl_user_max_user_namespaces

- name: Comment out any occurrences of user.max_user_namespaces from config files
  replace:
    path: '{{ item.path }}'
    regexp: ^[\s]*user.max_user_namespaces
    replace: '#user.max_user_namespaces'
  loop: '{{ find_sysctl_d.files }}'
  when: ansible_virtualization_type not in ["docker", "lxc", "openvz", "podman", "container"]
  tags:
  - NIST-800-53-CM-6(a)
  - NIST-800-53-SC-39
  - disable_strategy
  - low_complexity
  - medium_disruption
  - medium_severity
  - reboot_required
  - sysctl_user_max_user_namespaces

- name: Ensure sysctl user.max_user_namespaces is set to 0
  sysctl:
    name: user.max_user_namespaces
    value: '0'
    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(a)
  - NIST-800-53-SC-39
  - disable_strategy
  - low_complexity
  - medium_disruption
  - medium_severity
  - reboot_required
  - sysctl_user_max_user_namespaces

Disable the use of user namespaces

Description

Rationale

Remediation - Shell Script

Remediation - Ansible