RHEL 10 must restrict exposed kernel pointer address access.
Overview
| Finding ID | Version | Rule ID | IA Controls | Severity |
| V-281308 | RHEL-10-701060 | SV-281308r1167074_rule | CCI-001082 | medium |
| 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 | ||||
| STIG | Date | |||
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 Security Technical Implementation Guide | 2026-03-11 | |||
Details
Check Text (C-281308r1167074_chk)
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 Text (F-85774r1167073_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