Title

RHEL 8 must disable core dumps for all users. (Cat II impact)

Discussion

It is detrimental for operating systems to provide, or install by default, functionality exceeding requirements or mission objectives. These unnecessary capabilities or services are often overlooked and therefore may remain unsecured. They increase the risk to the platform by providing additional attack vectors. A core dump includes a memory image taken at the time the operating system terminates an application. The memory image could contain sensitive data and is generally useful only for developers trying to debug problems.

Check Content

Verify the operating system disables core dumps for all users by issuing the following command: $ sudo grep -r -s '^[^#].*core' /etc/security/limits.conf /etc/security/limits.d/*.conf * hard core 0 This can be set as a global domain (with the * wildcard) but may be set differently for multiple domains. If the "core" item is missing, commented out, or the value is anything other than "0" and the need for core dumps is not documented with the Information System Security Officer (ISSO) as an operational requirement for all domains that have the "core" item assigned, this is a finding.

Fix Text

Configure the operating system to disable core dumps for all users. Add the following line to the top of the /etc/security/limits.conf or in a ".conf" file defined in /etc/security/limits.d/: * hard core 0

Additional Identifiers

Rule ID: SV-230313r1017124_rule

Vulnerability ID: V-230313

Group Title: SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227

Expert Comments

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