Nutanix OS must implement address space layout randomization to protect its memory from unauthorized code execution.

Some adversaries launch attacks with the intent of executing code in nonexecutable regions of memory or in memory locations that are prohibited. Security safeguards employed to protect memory include, for example, data execution prevention and address space layout randomization. Data execution prevention safeguards can either be hardware-enforced or software-enforced with hardware providing the greater strength of mechanism.

Examples of attacks are buffer overflow attacks.

Verify Nutanix OS is configured to implement address space layout randomization using the following command.

$ sudo sysctl kernel.randomize_va_space kernel.randomize_va_space = 2

If the value of "kernel.randomize_va_space" is anything other than "2", this is a finding.

Configure Nutanix AOS to implement address space layout randomization using the following command.

$ sudo sysctl kernel.randomize_va_space=2