Ensure kernel.yama.ptrace_scope is configured

MediumLevel 1Automatedlinux

Description

The ptrace() system call provides a means by which one process (the "tracer") may observe and control the execution of another process (the "tracee"), and examine and change the tracee's memory and registers. The sysctl settings (writable only with CAP_SYS_PTRACE) are: • 0 - classic ptrace permissions: a process can PTRACE_ATTACH to any other process running under the same uid, as long as it is dumpable (i.e. did not transition uids, start privileged, or have called prctl(PR_SET_DUMPABLE...) already). Similarly, PTRACE_TRACEME is unchanged. • 1 - restricted ptrace: a process must have a predef

How it is checked

Audit method: Shell command

shell

chk() { p=$1; allowed=" $2 "; case $p in net.ipv6.*) [ -d /proc/sys/net/ipv6 ] || return 0;; esac; v=$(sysctl -n "$p" 2>/dev/null) || { echo "$p: not available"; return 1; }; case "$allowed" in *" $v "*) ;; *) echo "$p is $v (running)"; return 1;; esac; sd=$(readlink -e /lib/systemd/systemd-sysctl || readlink -e /usr/lib/systemd/systemd-sysctl); f=$("$sd" --cat-config 2>/dev/null | grep -Po "^\h*${p//./\.}\h*=\h*\K\H+" | tail -n1); [ -n "$f" ] || { echo "$p is not set in any sysctl configuration file"; return 1; }; case "$allowed" in *" $f "*) ;; *) echo "$p is $f in configuration"; return 1;; esac; }; if chk kernel.yama.ptrace_scope '1 2 3'; then echo compliant; fi

Expected output: compliant

How it is fixed

Fix method: Guidance or infrastructure patch

1. Review all files being used by systemd sysctl and comment out or remove all kernel.yama.ptrace_scope lines that are not kernel.yama.ptrace_scope=1, kernel.yama.ptrace_scope=2, or kernel.yama.ptrace_scope=3. Example script: #!/usr/bin/env bash { l_option="kernel.yama.ptrace_scope" l_value="(1|2|3)" l_grep="${l_option//./(\\.|\\/)}" a_files=() l_systemdsysctl="$(readlink -e /lib/systemd/systemd-sysctl \ || readlink -e /usr/lib/systemd/systemd-sysctl)" l_ufw_file="$([ -f /etc/default/ufw ] && \ awk -F= '/^\s*IPT_SYSCTL=/ {print $2}' /etc/default/ufw)" [ -f "$(readlink -e "$l_ufw_file")" ] && \ a_files+=("$l_ufw_file"); a_files+=("/etc/sysctl.conf") while IFS= read -r l_fname; do l_file="$(re…

Properties

Operating systems: rocky-10
Tags: cis-convertedkernellinuxsysctl
Reference: CIS Rocky Linux 10 Benchmark v1.0.0 - 1.5.7

Check this host

Run this on a machine you are allowed to audit. The scan is read-only.

shell

tmaegis scan --target linux