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DRAFT - Protection Profile for General Purpose Operating Systems

Rules and Groups employed by this XCCDF Profile

  • Verify Permissions on Important Files and Directories

    Permissions for many files on a system must be set restrictively to ensure sensitive information is properly protected. This section discusses impo...
    Group
  • Enable Kernel Parameter to Enforce DAC on Hardlinks

    To set the runtime status of the <code>fs.protected_hardlinks</code> kernel parameter, run the following command: <pre>$ sudo sysctl -w fs.protecte...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Enable Kernel Parameter to Enforce DAC on Symlinks

    To set the runtime status of the <code>fs.protected_symlinks</code> kernel parameter, run the following command: <pre>$ sudo sysctl -w fs.protected...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Restrict Dynamic Mounting and Unmounting of Filesystems

    Linux includes a number of facilities for the automated addition and removal of filesystems on a running system. These facilities may be necessary...
    Group
  • Disable the Automounter

    The <code>autofs</code> daemon mounts and unmounts filesystems, such as user home directories shared via NFS, on demand. In addition, autofs can be...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Disable Mounting of cramfs

    To configure the system to prevent the <code>cramfs</code> kernel module from being loaded, add the following line to the file <code>/etc/modprobe...
    Rule Low Severity
  • Disable Modprobe Loading of USB Storage Driver

    To prevent USB storage devices from being used, configure the kernel module loading system to prevent automatic loading of the USB storage driver. ...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Restrict Partition Mount Options

    System partitions can be mounted with certain options that limit what files on those partitions can do. These options are set in the <code>/etc/fst...
    Group
  • Add nodev Option to /dev/shm

    The <code>nodev</code> mount option can be used to prevent creation of device files in <code>/dev/shm</code>. Legitimate character and block device...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Add noexec Option to /dev/shm

    The <code>noexec</code> mount option can be used to prevent binaries from being executed out of <code>/dev/shm</code>. It can be dangerous to allow...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Add nosuid Option to /dev/shm

    The <code>nosuid</code> mount option can be used to prevent execution of setuid programs in <code>/dev/shm</code>. The SUID and SGID permissions s...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Add nodev Option to /home

    The <code>nodev</code> mount option can be used to prevent device files from being created in <code>/home</code>. Legitimate character and block de...
    Rule Unknown Severity
  • Add nosuid Option to /home

    The <code>nosuid</code> mount option can be used to prevent execution of setuid programs in <code>/home</code>. The SUID and SGID permissions shoul...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Add nodev Option to /tmp

    The <code>nodev</code> mount option can be used to prevent device files from being created in <code>/tmp</code>. Legitimate character and block dev...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Add noexec Option to /tmp

    The <code>noexec</code> mount option can be used to prevent binaries from being executed out of <code>/tmp</code>. Add the <code>noexec</code> opti...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Add nosuid Option to /tmp

    The <code>nosuid</code> mount option can be used to prevent execution of setuid programs in <code>/tmp</code>. The SUID and SGID permissions should...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Add nodev Option to /var/tmp

    The <code>nodev</code> mount option can be used to prevent device files from being created in <code>/var/tmp</code>. Legitimate character and block...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Add noexec Option to /var/tmp

    The <code>noexec</code> mount option can be used to prevent binaries from being executed out of <code>/var/tmp</code>. Add the <code>noexec</code> ...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Add nosuid Option to /var/tmp

    The <code>nosuid</code> mount option can be used to prevent execution of setuid programs in <code>/var/tmp</code>. The SUID and SGID permissions sh...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Restrict Programs from Dangerous Execution Patterns

    The recommendations in this section are designed to ensure that the system's features to protect against potentially dangerous program execution ar...
    Group
  • Restrict Access to Kernel Message Buffer

    To set the runtime status of the <code>kernel.dmesg_restrict</code> kernel parameter, run the following command: <pre>$ sudo sysctl -w kernel.dmesg...
    Rule Low Severity
  • Disable Kernel Image Loading

    To set the runtime status of the <code>kernel.kexec_load_disabled</code> kernel parameter, run the following command: <pre>$ sudo sysctl -w kernel....
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Restrict usage of ptrace to descendant processes

    To set the runtime status of the <code>kernel.yama.ptrace_scope</code> kernel parameter, run the following command: <pre>$ sudo sysctl -w kernel.ya...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Disable Core Dumps

    A core dump file is the memory image of an executable program when it was terminated by the operating system due to errant behavior. In most cases,...
    Group
  • Disable Core Dumps for All Users

    To disable core dumps for all users, add the following line to <code>/etc/security/limits.conf</code>, or to a file within the <code>/etc/security/...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Enable ExecShield

    ExecShield describes kernel features that provide protection against exploitation of memory corruption errors such as buffer overflows. These featu...
    Group
  • Restrict Exposed Kernel Pointer Addresses Access

    To set the runtime status of the <code>kernel.kptr_restrict</code> kernel parameter, run the following command: <pre>$ sudo sysctl -w kernel.kptr_r...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Memory Poisoning

    Memory Poisoning consists of writing a special value to uninitialized or freed memory. Poisoning can be used as a mechanism to prevent leak of info...
    Group
  • Enable page allocator poisoning

    To enable poisoning of free pages, add the argument <code>page_poison=1</code> to the default GRUB 2 command line for the Linux operating system. T...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Enable SLUB/SLAB allocator poisoning

    To enable poisoning of SLUB/SLAB objects, add the argument <code>slub_debug=<xccdf-1.2:sub idref="xccdf_org.ssgproject.content_value_var_slub_debug...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • SELinux

    SELinux is a feature of the Linux kernel which can be used to guard against misconfigured or compromised programs. SELinux enforces the idea that p...
    Group
  • Configure SELinux Policy

    The SELinux <code>targeted</code> policy is appropriate for general-purpose desktops and servers, as well as systems in many other roles. To config...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Ensure SELinux State is Enforcing

    The SELinux state should be set to <code><xccdf-1.2:sub idref="xccdf_org.ssgproject.content_value_var_selinux_state" use="legacy"></xccdf-1.2:sub><...
    Rule High Severity
  • Services

    The best protection against vulnerable software is running less software. This section describes how to review the software which Oracle Linux 7 in...
    Group
  • Base Services

    This section addresses the base services that are installed on a Oracle Linux 7 default installation which are not covered in other sections. Some ...
    Group
  • Uninstall Automatic Bug Reporting Tool (abrt)

    The Automatic Bug Reporting Tool (<code>abrt</code>) collects and reports crash data when an application crash is detected. Using a variety of plug...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Disable KDump Kernel Crash Analyzer (kdump)

    The <code>kdump</code> service provides a kernel crash dump analyzer. It uses the <code>kexec</code> system call to boot a secondary kernel ("captu...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • NFS and RPC

    The Network File System is a popular distributed filesystem for the Unix environment, and is very widely deployed. This section discusses the circ...
    Group
  • Disable All NFS Services if Possible

    If there is not a reason for the system to operate as either an NFS client or an NFS server, follow all instructions in this section to disable sub...
    Group
  • Disable Services Used Only by NFS

    If NFS is not needed, disable the NFS client daemons nfslock, rpcgssd, and rpcidmapd. <br><br> All of these daemons run with elevated privileges, a...
    Group
  • Disable rpcbind Service

    The rpcbind utility maps RPC services to the ports on which they listen. RPC processes notify rpcbind when they start, registering the ports they a...
    Rule Low Severity
  • SSH Server

    The SSH protocol is recommended for remote login and remote file transfer. SSH provides confidentiality and integrity for data exchanged between tw...
    Group
  • Configure OpenSSH Server if Necessary

    If the system needs to act as an SSH server, then certain changes should be made to the OpenSSH daemon configuration file <code>/etc/ssh/sshd_confi...
    Group
  • Set SSH Client Alive Count Max to zero

    The SSH server sends at most <code>ClientAliveCountMax</code> messages during a SSH session and waits for a response from the SSH client. The optio...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Set SSH Client Alive Interval

    SSH allows administrators to set a network responsiveness timeout interval. After this interval has passed, the unresponsive client will be automat...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Disable Host-Based Authentication

    SSH's cryptographic host-based authentication is more secure than <code>.rhosts</code> authentication. However, it is not recommended that hosts un...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Disable SSH Access via Empty Passwords

    Disallow SSH login with empty passwords. The default SSH configuration disables logins with empty passwords. The appropriate configuration is used ...
    Rule High Severity
  • Disable GSSAPI Authentication

    Unless needed, SSH should not permit extraneous or unnecessary authentication mechanisms like GSSAPI. <br> The default SSH configuration disallows ...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Disable Kerberos Authentication

    Unless needed, SSH should not permit extraneous or unnecessary authentication mechanisms like Kerberos. <br> The default SSH configuration disallow...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Disable SSH Support for Rhosts RSA Authentication

    SSH can allow authentication through the obsolete rsh command through the use of the authenticating user's SSH keys. This should be disabled. <br><...
    Rule Medium Severity

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