PHTN-30-000065 - The Photon operating system must implement address space layout randomization (ASLR) to protect its memory from unauthorized code execution.

Information

ASLR makes it more difficult for an attacker to predict the location of attack code they have introduced into a process's address space during an attempt at exploitation.

ASLR also makes it more difficult for an attacker to know the location of existing code to repurpose it using return-oriented programming (ROP) techniques.

NOTE: Nessus has provided the target output to assist in reviewing the benchmark to ensure target compliance.

Solution

Navigate to and open:

/etc/sysctl.d/50-security-hardening.conf

Ensure the 'randomize_va_space' is uncommented and set to the following:

kernel.randomize_va_space=2

At the command line, run the following command:

# sysctl --system

See Also

https://dl.dod.cyber.mil/wp-content/uploads/stigs/zip/U_VMW_vSphere_7-0_Y24M01_STIG.zip

Item Details

Category: SYSTEM AND INFORMATION INTEGRITY

References: 800-53|SI-16, CAT|II, CCI|CCI-002824, Rule-ID|SV-256535r887279_rule, STIG-ID|PHTN-30-000065, Vuln-ID|V-256535

Plugin: Unix

Control ID: d19681e28cd9eb7db8c07fc651b23d62b73a6c8994f6d812549aaf96e04a047f