Details

Configure SELINUX to be enabled at boot time and verify that it has not been overwritten

by the grub boot parameters.

Rationale:

SELinux must be enabled at boot time in your grub configuration to ensure that the

controls it provides are not overridden.

Solution

For grub based systems edit /boot/grub/menu.lst and remove all instances of selinux=0
and enforcing=0 on all kernel lines.
For grub2 based systems edit /etc/default/grub and remove all instances of selinux=0 and
enforcing=0 from all CMDLINE_LINUX parameters:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT=”quiet”
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX=””

Run the following command to update the grub2 configuration:

# update-grub

or

# grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/grub2/guub.cfg

Notes:

This recommendation is designed around the grub bootloader, if LILO or another
bootloader is in use in your environment enact equivalent settings.

Supportive Information

The following resource is also helpful.

• https://workbench.cisecurity.org/files/2420https://workbench.cisecurity.org/files/2420

This security hardening control applies to the following category of controls within NIST 800-53: Access Control.This control applies to the following type of system Unix.

References

• 800-53|AC-3(3)

Source

• Tenable.com/audits