The Photon operating system must restrict access to the kernel message buffer.

Overview

Finding ID	Version	Rule ID	IA Controls	Severity
V-258828	PHTN-40-000067	SV-258828r933545_rule		Medium

Description
Restricting access to the kernel message buffer limits access only to root. This prevents attackers from gaining additional system information as a nonprivileged user.

STIG	Date
VMware vSphere 8.0 vCenter Appliance Photon OS 4.0 Security Technical Implementation Guide	2023-10-29

Details

Check Text ( C-62568r933543_chk )
At the command line, run the following command to verify kernel message buffer restrictions are enabled: # /sbin/sysctl kernel.dmesg_restrict Example result: kernel.dmesg_restrict = 1 If the "kernel.dmesg_restrict" kernel parameter is not set to "1", this is a finding.

Fix Text (F-62477r933544_fix)
Navigate to and open: /etc/sysctl.d/zz-stig-hardening.conf Add or update the following line: kernel.dmesg_restrict = 1 At the command line, run the following command to load the new configuration: # /sbin/sysctl --load /etc/sysctl.d/zz-stig-hardening.conf Note: If the file zz-stig-hardening.conf does not exist, it must be created.