RHEL 10 must disable the x86 Ctrl-Alt-Delete key sequence.
Severity | Group ID | Group Title | Version | Rule ID | Date | STIG Version |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| high | V-281299 | SRG-OS-000324-GPOS-00125 | RHEL-10-700960 | SV-281299r1166849_rule | 2026-03-11 | 1 |
Description
A locally logged-on user who presses Ctrl-Alt-Delete when at the console can reboot the system. If accidentally pressed, as could happen in the case of a mixed operating system environment, this can create the risk of short-term loss of systems availability due to unintentional reboot.
In a graphical user environment, risk of unintentional reboot from the Ctrl-Alt-Delete sequence is reduced because the user will be prompted before any action is taken.
ℹ️ Check
Verify RHEL 10 is not configured to reboot the system when Ctrl-Alt-Delete is pressed with the following command:
$ sudo systemctl status ctrl-alt-del.target
o ctrl-alt-del.target
Loaded: masked (Reason: Unit ctrl-alt-del.target is masked.)
Active: inactive (dead)
If the "ctrl-alt-del.target" is loaded and not masked, this is a finding.
✔️ Fix
Configure RHEL 10 to disable the "ctrl-alt-del.target" with the following command:
$ sudo systemctl disable --now ctrl-alt-del.target
$ sudo systemctl mask --now ctrl-alt-del.target