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RHEL 9 must prevent kernel profiling by nonprivileged users.

Overview

Finding IDVersionRule IDIA ControlsSeverity
V-257798RHEL-09-213015SV-257798r1106270_ruleCCI-001082medium
Description
Preventing unauthorized information transfers mitigates the risk of information, including encrypted representations of information, produced by the actions of prior users/roles (or the actions of processes acting on behalf of prior users/roles) from being available to any current users/roles (or current processes) that obtain access to shared system resources (e.g., registers, main memory, hard disks) after those resources have been released back to information systems. The control of information in shared resources is also commonly referred to as object reuse and residual information protection. This requirement generally applies to the design of an information technology product, but it can also apply to the configuration of particular information system components that are, or use, such products. This can be verified by acceptance/validation processes in DOD or other government agencies. There may be shared resources with configurable protections (e.g., files in storage) that may be assessed on specific information system components. Setting the kernel.perf_event_paranoid kernel parameter to "2" prevents attackers from gaining additional system information as a nonprivileged user. The sysctl --system command will load settings from all system configuration files. All configuration files are sorted by their filename in lexicographic order, regardless of the directories in which they reside. If multiple files specify the same option, the entry in the file with the lexicographically latest name will take precedence. Files are read from directories in the following list from top to bottom. Once a file of a given filename is loaded, any file of the same name in subsequent directories is ignored. /etc/sysctl.d/*.conf /run/sysctl.d/*.conf /usr/local/lib/sysctl.d/*.conf /usr/lib/sysctl.d/*.conf /lib/sysctl.d/*.conf /etc/sysctl.conf Satisfies: SRG-OS-000132-GPOS-00067, SRG-OS-000138-GPOS-00069
STIGDate
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 Security Technical Implementation Guide2025-05-14

Related Frameworks

2 mappings across 5 frameworks
SCF0 mappings

No source states a mapping between these directly.

Also reachable in 3 hops (14) derived by us, not asserted by any source

Each of these is a route we composed by chaining published mappings. No publisher states a relationship between the two endpoints.

CFG-02Secure Baseline Configurations
1.00
CRY-01Use of Cryptographic Controls
1.00
CRY-01.1Alternate Physical Protection
1.00
CRY-03Transmission Confidentiality
1.00
CRY-04Transmission Integrity
1.00
CRY-05Encrypting Data At Rest
1.00
DCH-01Data Protection
1.00
IAC-21Least Privilege
1.00
NET-01Network Security Controls (NSC)
1.00
NET-02Layered Network Defenses
1.00

+4 more (top 10 by confidence shown)

NIST 800-530 mappings

No source states a mapping between these directly.

Also reachable in 2 hops (44) derived by us, not asserted by any source

Each of these is a route we composed by chaining published mappings. No publisher states a relationship between the two endpoints.

AC-2(1)Automated System Account Management
1.00
AC-2(10)Shared and Group Account Credential Change
1.00
AC-2(2)Automated Temporary and Emergency Account Management
1.00
AC-2(3)Disable Accounts
1.00
AC-2(4)Automated Audit Actions
1.00
AC-3Access Enforcement
1.00
AC-4Information Flow Enforcement
1.00
AC-6(10)Prohibit Non-privileged Users from Executing Privileged Functions
1.00
AC-6(8)Privilege Levels for Code Execution
1.00
AC-7Unsuccessful Logon Attempts
1.00

+34 more (top 10 by confidence shown)

NIST 800-1710 mappings

No source states a mapping between these directly.

Also reachable in 3 hops (2) derived by us, not asserted by any source

Each of these is a route we composed by chaining published mappings. No publisher states a relationship between the two endpoints.

3.13.3
1.00
3.13.4
1.00
CCI2 mappings
CCI-001082
1.00
CCI-001090
1.00
NIST CSF 2.00 mappings

No source states a mapping between these directly.

Also reachable in 3 hops (4) derived by us, not asserted by any source

Each of these is a route we composed by chaining published mappings. No publisher states a relationship between the two endpoints.

PR.DS-01
1.00
PR.DS-02
1.00
PR.DS-10
1.00
PR.IR-01
1.00

Who does this work

13 NICE work roles and 8 EC-Council certifications.

This is an inference across published mappings, not a single claim by anyone. This check maps to a control, which maps to a Cybersecurity Framework outcome, which NIST assigns to the work roles below. EC-Council separately maps its certifications to those same roles.

A certification prepares someone for a role. It is not evidence that a holder is qualified, and neither NIST nor EC-Council has stated that any certification here addresses this check.

Work-role assignments published by NIST (NICE Framework Components 2.2.0 and the CSF 2.0 OLIR crosswalk). Certification mappings published by EC-Council.

Details

Check Text (C-257798r1106270_chk)

Verify RHEL 9 is configured to prevent kernel profiling by nonprivileged users with the following commands: Check the status of the kernel.perf_event_paranoid kernel parameter. $ sudo sysctl kernel.perf_event_paranoid kernel.perf_event_paranoid = 2 If "kernel.perf_event_paranoid" is not set to "2" or is missing, this is a finding. Check that the configuration files are present to enable this kernel parameter. $ sudo grep -r kernel.perf_event_paranoid /run/sysctl.d/*.conf /usr/local/lib/sysctl.d/*.conf /usr/lib/sysctl.d/*.conf /lib/sysctl.d/*.conf /etc/sysctl.conf /etc/sysctl.d/*.conf /etc/sysctl.d/99-sysctl.conf:kernel.perf_event_paranoid = 2 If "kernel.perf_event_paranoid" is not set to "2", is missing or commented out, this is a finding. If conflicting results are returned, this is a finding.

Fix Text (F-61463r1102051_fix)

Configure RHEL 9 to prevent kernel profiling by nonprivileged users. Add or edit the following line in a system configuration file, in the "/etc/sysctl.d/" directory: kernel.perf_event_paranoid = 2 Remove any configurations that conflict with the above from the following locations: /run/sysctl.d/*.conf /usr/local/lib/sysctl.d/*.conf /usr/lib/sysctl.d/*.conf /lib/sysctl.d/*.conf /etc/sysctl.conf /etc/sysctl.d/*.conf Load settings from all system configuration files with the following command: $ sudo sysctl --system