Restrict Exposed Kernel Pointer Addresses Access
Description
To set the runtime status of the kernel.kptr_restrict kernel parameter, run the following command:
$ sudo sysctl -w kernel.kptr_restrict=1
To make sure that the setting is persistent, add the following line to a file in the directory /etc/sysctl.d:
Rationale
Exposing kernel pointers (through procfs or seq_printf()) exposes kernel
writeable structures which may contain functions pointers. If a write vulnerability
occurs in the kernel, allowing write access to any of this structure, the kernel can
be compromised. This option disallow any program without the CAP_SYSLOG capability
to get the addresses of kernel pointers by replacing them with 0.
Shell script
The following script can be run on the host to remediate the issue.
#!/bin/bash
# Remediation is applicable only in certain platforms
if rpm --quiet -q kernel-core; then
# Comment out any occurrences of kernel.kptr_restrict from /etc/sysctl.d/*.conf files
for f in /etc/sysctl.d/*.conf /run/sysctl.d/*.conf /usr/local/lib/sysctl.d/*.conf; do
# skip systemd-sysctl symlink (/etc/sysctl.d/99-sysctl.conf -> /etc/sysctl.conf)
if [[ "$(readlink -f "$f")" == "/etc/sysctl.conf" ]]; then continue; fi
matching_list=$(grep -P '^(?!#).*[\s]*kernel.kptr_restrict.*$' $f | uniq )
if ! test -z "$matching_list"; then
while IFS= read -r entry; do
escaped_entry=$(sed -e 's|/|\\/|g' <<< "$entry")
# comment out "kernel.kptr_restrict" matches to preserve user data
sed -i --follow-symlinks "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"
sysctl_kernel_kptr_restrict_value='1'
#
# Set runtime for kernel.kptr_restrict
#
if ! { rpm --quiet -q kernel rpm-ostree bootc && ! rpm --quiet -q openshift-kubelet && { [ -f "/run/.containerenv" ] || [ -f "/.containerenv" ]; }; } ; then
/sbin/sysctl -q -n -w kernel.kptr_restrict="$sysctl_kernel_kptr_restrict_value"
fi
#
# If kernel.kptr_restrict present in /etc/sysctl.conf, change value to appropriate value
# else, add "kernel.kptr_restrict = value" to /etc/sysctl.conf
#
# Strip any search characters in the key arg so that the key can be replaced without
# adding any search characters to the config file.
stripped_key=$(sed 's/[\^=\$,;+]*//g' <<< "^kernel.kptr_restrict")
# shellcheck disable=SC2059
printf -v formatted_output "%s = %s" "$stripped_key" "$sysctl_kernel_kptr_restrict_value"
# 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 "^kernel.kptr_restrict\\>" "${SYSCONFIG_FILE}"; then
escaped_formatted_output=$(sed -e 's|/|\\/|g' <<< "$formatted_output")
LC_ALL=C sed -i --follow-symlinks "s/^kernel.kptr_restrict\\>.*/$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="CCE-88686-1"
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
Ansible playbook
The following playbook can be run with Ansible to remediate the issue.
- name: Gather the package facts
package_facts:
manager: auto
tags:
- CCE-88686-1
- NIST-800-53-CM-6(a)
- NIST-800-53-SC-30
- NIST-800-53-SC-30(2)
- NIST-800-53-SC-30(5)
- disable_strategy
- low_complexity
- medium_disruption
- medium_severity
- reboot_required
- sysctl_kernel_kptr_restrict
- name: XCCDF Value sysctl_kernel_kptr_restrict_value # promote to variable
set_fact:
sysctl_kernel_kptr_restrict_value: !!str 1
tags:
- always
- name: Restrict Exposed Kernel Pointer Addresses Access - Set fact for sysctl paths
ansible.builtin.set_fact:
sysctl_paths:
- /etc/sysctl.d/
- /run/sysctl.d/
- /usr/local/lib/sysctl.d/
when: '"kernel-core" in ansible_facts.packages'
tags:
- CCE-88686-1
- NIST-800-53-CM-6(a)
- NIST-800-53-SC-30
- NIST-800-53-SC-30(2)
- NIST-800-53-SC-30(5)
- disable_strategy
- low_complexity
- medium_disruption
- medium_severity
- reboot_required
- sysctl_kernel_kptr_restrict
- name: Restrict Exposed Kernel Pointer Addresses Access - Find all files that contain
kernel.kptr_restrict
ansible.builtin.shell:
cmd: find -L {{ sysctl_paths | join(" ") }} -type f -name '*.conf' | xargs grep
-HP '^\s*kernel.kptr_restrict\s*=\s*.*$'
register: find_all_values
check_mode: false
changed_when: false
failed_when: false
when: '"kernel-core" in ansible_facts.packages'
tags:
- CCE-88686-1
- NIST-800-53-CM-6(a)
- NIST-800-53-SC-30
- NIST-800-53-SC-30(2)
- NIST-800-53-SC-30(5)
- disable_strategy
- low_complexity
- medium_disruption
- medium_severity
- reboot_required
- sysctl_kernel_kptr_restrict
- name: Restrict Exposed Kernel Pointer Addresses Access - Find all files that set
kernel.kptr_restrict to correct value
ansible.builtin.shell:
cmd: find -L {{ sysctl_paths | join(" ") }} -type f -name '*.conf' | xargs grep
-HP '^\s*kernel.kptr_restrict\s*=\s*{{ sysctl_kernel_kptr_restrict_value }}$'
register: find_correct_value
check_mode: false
changed_when: false
failed_when: false
when: '"kernel-core" in ansible_facts.packages'
tags:
- CCE-88686-1
- NIST-800-53-CM-6(a)
- NIST-800-53-SC-30
- NIST-800-53-SC-30(2)
- NIST-800-53-SC-30(5)
- disable_strategy
- low_complexity
- medium_disruption
- medium_severity
- reboot_required
- sysctl_kernel_kptr_restrict
- name: Restrict Exposed Kernel Pointer Addresses Access - Comment out any occurrences
of kernel.kptr_restrict from config files
ansible.builtin.replace:
path: '{{ item | split(":") | first }}'
regexp: ^[\s]*kernel.kptr_restrict
replace: '#kernel.kptr_restrict'
loop: '{{ find_all_values.stdout_lines }}'
when:
- '"kernel-core" in ansible_facts.packages'
- find_correct_value.stdout_lines | length == 0 or find_all_values.stdout_lines
| length > find_correct_value.stdout_lines | length
tags:
- CCE-88686-1
- NIST-800-53-CM-6(a)
- NIST-800-53-SC-30
- NIST-800-53-SC-30(2)
- NIST-800-53-SC-30(5)
- disable_strategy
- low_complexity
- medium_disruption
- medium_severity
- reboot_required
- sysctl_kernel_kptr_restrict
- name: Restrict Exposed Kernel Pointer Addresses Access - Ensure sysctl kernel.kptr_restrict
is set
ansible.posix.sysctl:
name: kernel.kptr_restrict
value: '{{ sysctl_kernel_kptr_restrict_value }}'
sysctl_file: /etc/sysctl.conf
state: present
reload: true
when: '"kernel-core" in ansible_facts.packages'
tags:
- CCE-88686-1
- NIST-800-53-CM-6(a)
- NIST-800-53-SC-30
- NIST-800-53-SC-30(2)
- NIST-800-53-SC-30(5)
- disable_strategy
- low_complexity
- medium_disruption
- medium_severity
- reboot_required
- sysctl_kernel_kptr_restrict