The noexec mount option can be used to prevent binaries from being
executed out of /home.
Add the noexec option to the fourth column of
/etc/fstab for the line which controls mounting of
/home.
Rationale
The /home directory contains data of individual users. Binaries in
this directory should not be considered as trusted and users should not be
able to execute them.
- name: 'Add noexec Option to /home: Check information associated to mountpoint'
command: findmnt --fstab '/home'
register: device_name
failed_when: device_name.rc > 1
changed_when: false
when: ansible_virtualization_type not in ["docker", "lxc", "openvz", "podman", "container"]
tags:
- NIST-800-53-CM-6(b)
- configure_strategy
- high_disruption
- low_complexity
- medium_severity
- mount_option_home_noexec
- no_reboot_needed
- name: 'Add noexec Option to /home: Create mount_info dictionary variable'
set_fact:
mount_info: '{{ mount_info|default({})|combine({item.0: item.1}) }}'
with_together:
- '{{ device_name.stdout_lines[0].split() | list | lower }}'
- '{{ device_name.stdout_lines[1].split() | list }}'
when:
- ansible_virtualization_type not in ["docker", "lxc", "openvz", "podman", "container"]
- device_name.stdout is defined and device_name.stdout_lines is defined
- (device_name.stdout | length > 0)
tags:
- NIST-800-53-CM-6(b)
- configure_strategy
- high_disruption
- low_complexity
- medium_severity
- mount_option_home_noexec
- no_reboot_needed
- name: 'Add noexec Option to /home: If /home not mounted, craft mount_info manually'
set_fact:
mount_info: '{{ mount_info|default({})|combine({item.0: item.1}) }}'
with_together:
- - target
- source
- fstype
- options
- - /home
- ''
- ''
- defaults
when:
- ansible_virtualization_type not in ["docker", "lxc", "openvz", "podman", "container"]
- ("--fstab" | length == 0)
- device_name.stdout is defined and device_name.stdout_lines is defined
- (device_name.stdout | length == 0)
tags:
- NIST-800-53-CM-6(b)
- configure_strategy
- high_disruption
- low_complexity
- medium_severity
- mount_option_home_noexec
- no_reboot_needed
- name: 'Add noexec Option to /home: Make sure noexec option is part of the to /home
options'
set_fact:
mount_info: '{{ mount_info | combine( {''options'':''''~mount_info.options~'',noexec''
}) }}'
when:
- ansible_virtualization_type not in ["docker", "lxc", "openvz", "podman", "container"]
- mount_info is defined and "noexec" not in mount_info.options
tags:
- NIST-800-53-CM-6(b)
- configure_strategy
- high_disruption
- low_complexity
- medium_severity
- mount_option_home_noexec
- no_reboot_needed
- name: 'Add noexec Option to /home: Ensure /home is mounted with noexec option'
mount:
path: /home
src: '{{ mount_info.source }}'
opts: '{{ mount_info.options }}'
state: mounted
fstype: '{{ mount_info.fstype }}'
when:
- ansible_virtualization_type not in ["docker", "lxc", "openvz", "podman", "container"]
- mount_info is defined
- (device_name.stdout is defined and (device_name.stdout | length > 0)) or ("--fstab"
| length == 0)
tags:
- NIST-800-53-CM-6(b)
- configure_strategy
- high_disruption
- low_complexity
- medium_severity
- mount_option_home_noexec
- no_reboot_needed
Remediation - Shell Script
# Remediation is applicable only in certain platforms
if [ ! -f /.dockerenv ] && [ ! -f /run/.containerenv ]; then
function perform_remediation {
# the mount point /home has to be defined in /etc/fstab
# before this remediation can be executed. In case it is not defined, the
# remediation aborts and no changes regarding the mount point are done.
mount_point_match_regexp="$(printf "^[[:space:]]*[^#].*[[:space:]]%s[[:space:]]" "/home")"
grep "$mount_point_match_regexp" -q /etc/fstab \
|| { echo "The mount point '/home' is not even in /etc/fstab, so we can't set up mount options" >&2;
echo "Not remediating, because there is no record of /home in /etc/fstab" >&2; return 1; }
mount_point_match_regexp="$(printf "^[[:space:]]*[^#].*[[:space:]]%s[[:space:]]" /home)"
# If the mount point is not in /etc/fstab, get previous mount options from /etc/mtab
if ! grep -q "$mount_point_match_regexp" /etc/fstab; then
# runtime opts without some automatic kernel/userspace-added defaults
previous_mount_opts=$(grep "$mount_point_match_regexp" /etc/mtab | head -1 | awk '{print $4}' \
| sed -E "s/(rw|defaults|seclabel|noexec)(,|$)//g;s/,$//")
[ "$previous_mount_opts" ] && previous_mount_opts+=","
# In iso9660 filesystems mtab could describe a "blocksize" value, this should be reflected in
# fstab as "block". The next variable is to satisfy shellcheck SC2050.
fs_type=""
if [ "$fs_type" == "iso9660" ] ; then
previous_mount_opts=$(sed 's/blocksize=/block=/' <<< "$previous_mount_opts")
fi
echo " /home defaults,${previous_mount_opts}noexec 0 0" >> /etc/fstab
# If the mount_opt option is not already in the mount point's /etc/fstab entry, add it
elif ! grep "$mount_point_match_regexp" /etc/fstab | grep -q "noexec"; then
previous_mount_opts=$(grep "$mount_point_match_regexp" /etc/fstab | awk '{print $4}')
sed -i "s|\(${mount_point_match_regexp}.*${previous_mount_opts}\)|\1,noexec|" /etc/fstab
fi
if mkdir -p "/home"; then
if mountpoint -q "/home"; then
mount -o remount --target "/home"
fi
fi
}
perform_remediation
else
>&2 echo 'Remediation is not applicable, nothing was done'
fi