1.1.3.3 Ensure noexec option set on /var partition

Information

The noexec mount option specifies that the filesystem cannot contain executable binaries.

Since the /var filesystem is only intended for variable files such as logs, set this option to ensure that users cannot run executable binaries from /var

Solution

Edit the /etc/fstab file and add noexec to the fourth field (mounting options) for the /var partition.

Example:

<device> /var <fstype> defaults,rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime 0 0

Run the following command to remount /var with the configured options:

# mount -o remount /var

See Also

https://workbench.cisecurity.org/files/3742

Item Details

Category: ACCESS CONTROL, MEDIA PROTECTION

References: 800-53|AC-3, 800-53|AC-5, 800-53|AC-6, 800-53|MP-2, CSCv7|14.6

Plugin: Unix

Control ID: 31c3d3b096e51da2f7506ca024eab260848d9cc9552e1323c62e38c9e61d2948