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V-281315

CAT II (Medium)

RHEL 10 must implement address space layout randomization (ASLR) to protect its memory from unauthorized code execution.

Rule ID

SV-281315r1167095_rule

STIG

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 Security Technical Implementation Guide

Version

V1R1

CCIs

CCI-002824

Discussion

ASLR makes it more difficult for an attacker to predict the location of attack code they have introduced into a process's address space during an attempt at exploitation. Additionally, ASLR makes it more difficult for an attacker to know the location of existing code to repurpose it using return-oriented programming techniques.

Check Content

Verify RHEL 10 is implementing ASLR.

Check the status of the "kernel.randomize_va_space" kernel parameter with the following command:

$ sudo sysctl kernel.randomize_va_space
kernel.randomize_va_space = 2

If "kernel.randomize_va_space" is not set to "2" or is missing, this is a finding.

Fix Text

Configure RHEL 10 to implement ASLR.

Create the drop-in if it does not already exist:

$ sudo vi /etc/sysctl.d/99-kernel_randomize_va_space.conf

Add the following line to the file:

kernel.randomize_va_space = 2

Reload settings from all system configuration files with the following command:

$ sudo sysctl --system