OL08-00-010424 - OL 8 must not let Meltdown and Spectre exploit critical vulnerabilities in modern processors.

Information

Hardware vulnerabilities allow programs to steal data that is currently processed on the computer. While programs are typically not permitted to read data from other programs, a malicious program can exploit Meltdown and Spectre to obtain secrets stored in the memory of other running programs. This might include passwords stored in a password manager or browser; personal photos, emails, and instant messages; and business-critical documents.

Solution

Determine the default kernel:

$ sudo grubby --default-kernel

/boot/vmlinuz-5.4.17-2011.1.2.el8uek.x86_64

Using the default kernel, remove the argument that sets the Meltdown mitigations to 'off':

$ sudo grubby --update-kernel=<path-to-default-kernel> --remove-args=mitigations=off

Reboot the system for the change to take effect.

See Also

https://dl.dod.cyber.mil/wp-content/uploads/stigs/zip/U_Oracle_Linux_8_V2R2_STIG.zip

Item Details

Category: CONFIGURATION MANAGEMENT

References: 800-53|CM-6b., CAT|II, CCI|CCI-000366, Rule-ID|SV-248593r991589_rule, STIG-ID|OL08-00-010424, Vuln-ID|V-248593

Plugin: Unix

Control ID: 70d96eee9fdd739ba498a1553f9387cefee69e6202ce1c9ececfb8e0547c99c8