Disable Mounting of cramfs

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Description

To configure the system to prevent the cramfs kernel module from being loaded, add the following line to the file /etc/modprobe.d/cramfs.conf:

install cramfs /bin/false

This effectively prevents usage of this uncommon filesystem.

The cramfs filesystem type is a compressed read-only Linux filesystem embedded in small footprint systems. A cramfs image can be used without having to first decompress the image.

Rationale

Removing support for unneeded filesystem types reduces the local attack surface of the server.

Remediation

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 [ ! -f /.dockerenv ] && [ ! -f /run/.containerenv ]; then

if LC_ALL=C grep -q -m 1 "^install cramfs" /etc/modprobe.d/cramfs.conf ; then
	
	sed -i 's#^install cramfs.*#install cramfs /bin/false#g' /etc/modprobe.d/cramfs.conf
else
	echo -e "\n# Disable per security requirements" >> /etc/modprobe.d/cramfs.conf
	echo "install cramfs /bin/false" >> /etc/modprobe.d/cramfs.conf
fi

if ! LC_ALL=C grep -q -m 1 "^blacklist cramfs$" /etc/modprobe.d/cramfs.conf ; then
	echo "blacklist cramfs" >> /etc/modprobe.d/cramfs.conf
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: Ensure kernel module 'cramfs' is disabled
  lineinfile:
    create: true
    dest: /etc/modprobe.d/cramfs.conf
    regexp: install\s+cramfs
    line: install cramfs /bin/false
  when: ansible_virtualization_type not in ["docker", "lxc", "openvz", "podman", "container"]
  tags:
  - NIST-800-171-3.4.6
  - NIST-800-53-CM-6(a)
  - NIST-800-53-CM-7(a)
  - NIST-800-53-CM-7(b)
  - disable_strategy
  - kernel_module_cramfs_disabled
  - low_complexity
  - low_severity
  - medium_disruption
  - reboot_required

- name: Ensure kernel module 'cramfs' is blacklisted
  lineinfile:
    create: true
    dest: /etc/modprobe.d/cramfs.conf
    regexp: ^blacklist cramfs$
    line: blacklist cramfs
  when: ansible_virtualization_type not in ["docker", "lxc", "openvz", "podman", "container"]
  tags:
  - NIST-800-171-3.4.6
  - NIST-800-53-CM-6(a)
  - NIST-800-53-CM-7(a)
  - NIST-800-53-CM-7(b)
  - disable_strategy
  - kernel_module_cramfs_disabled
  - low_complexity
  - low_severity
  - medium_disruption
  - reboot_required