Enable Kernel Parameter to Enforce DAC on Regular files

An XCCDF Rule

Description

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

$ sudo sysctl -w fs.protected_regular=2

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

fs.protected_regular = 2

Rationale

This parameter is available since Linux Kernel 4.19 and allows to prohibit opening "regular" files that are not owned by the user in world and group writeable sticky directories. It avoids writes to an attacker-controlled regular file, for example, when a program expects to create the regular file.

ID: xccdf_org.ssgproject.content_rule_sysctl_fs_protected_regular
Severity: Medium
References: AC-6(1) CM-6(a)
Updated: about 1 year ago

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

# Comment out any occurrences of fs.protected_regular 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=$(grep -P '^(?!#).*[\s]*fs.protected_regular.*$' $f | uniq )
  if ! test -z "$matching_list"; then
    while IFS= read -r entry; do
      escaped_entry=$(sed -e 's|/|\\/|g' <<< "$entry")
      # comment out "fs.protected_regular" 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 fs.protected_regular
#
/sbin/sysctl -q -n -w fs.protected_regular="2"

#
# If fs.protected_regular present in /etc/sysctl.conf, change value to "2"
#	else, add "fs.protected_regular = 2" 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' <<< "^fs.protected_regular")

# shellcheck disable=SC2059
printf -v formatted_output "%s = %s" "$stripped_key" "2"

# 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 "^fs.protected_regular\\>" "${SYSCONFIG_FILE}"; then
    escaped_formatted_output=$(sed -e 's|/|\\/|g' <<< "$formatted_output")
    LC_ALL=C sed -i --follow-symlinks "s/^fs.protected_regular\\>.*/$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
    cce=""
    printf '# Per %s: Set %s in %s\n' "${cce}" "${formatted_output}" "${SYSCONFIG_FILE}" >> "${SYSCONFIG_FILE}"
    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]*fs.protected_regular.*$
    patterns: '*.conf'
    file_type: any
  register: find_sysctl_d
  when: ansible_virtualization_type not in ["docker", "lxc", "openvz", "podman", "container"]
  tags:
  - NIST-800-53-AC-6(1)
  - NIST-800-53-CM-6(a)
  - disable_strategy
  - low_complexity
  - medium_disruption
  - medium_severity
  - reboot_required
  - sysctl_fs_protected_regular

- name: Comment out any occurrences of fs.protected_regular from config files
  replace:
    path: '{{ item.path }}'
    regexp: ^[\s]*fs.protected_regular
    replace: '#fs.protected_regular'
  loop: '{{ find_sysctl_d.files }}'
  when: ansible_virtualization_type not in ["docker", "lxc", "openvz", "podman", "container"]
  tags:
  - NIST-800-53-AC-6(1)
  - NIST-800-53-CM-6(a)
  - disable_strategy
  - low_complexity
  - medium_disruption
  - medium_severity
  - reboot_required
  - sysctl_fs_protected_regular

- name: Ensure sysctl fs.protected_regular is set to 2
  sysctl:
    name: fs.protected_regular
    value: '2'
    sysctl_file: /etc/sysctl.conf
    state: present
    reload: true
  when: ansible_virtualization_type not in ["docker", "lxc", "openvz", "podman", "container"]
  tags:
  - NIST-800-53-AC-6(1)
  - NIST-800-53-CM-6(a)
  - disable_strategy
  - low_complexity
  - medium_disruption
  - medium_severity
  - reboot_required
  - sysctl_fs_protected_regular

Enable Kernel Parameter to Enforce DAC on Regular files

Description

Rationale

Remediation - Shell Script

Remediation - Ansible