RHEL 10 must restrict exposed kernel pointer address access.

Severity
Group ID
Group Title
Version
Rule ID
Date
STIG Version
mediumV-281308SRG-OS-000132-GPOS-00067RHEL-10-701060SV-281308r1167074_rule2026-03-111

Description

Exposing kernel pointers (through procfs or "seq_printf()") exposes kernel writable 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 disallows any program without the CAP_SYSLOG capability to get the addresses of kernel pointers by replacing them with "0". Satisfies: SRG-OS-000132-GPOS-00067, SRG-OS-000433-GPOS-00192

ℹ️ Check

Verify RHEL 10 is configured to restrict exposed kernel pointer address access. Verify the runtime status of the "kernel.kptr_restrict" kernel parameter with the following command: $ sudo sysctl kernel.kptr_restrict kernel.kptr_restrict = 1 If "kernel.kptr_restrict" is not set to "1" or is missing, this is a finding.

✔️ Fix

Configure RHEL 10 to restrict exposed kernel pointer address access. Create a drop-in if it does not already exist: $ sudo vi /etc/sysctl.d/99-kernel_kptr_restrict.conf Add the following to the file: kernel.kptr_restrict = 1 Reload settings from all system configuration files with the following command: $ sudo sysctl --system