There are plenty of security hardening options in the Linux kernel. A lot of them are not enabled by the major distros. We have to enable these options ourselves to make our systems more secure.
But nobody likes checking configs manually. So let the computers do their job!
kconfig-hardened-check.py helps me to check the Linux kernel Kconfig option list against my security hardening preferences, which are based on the
- KSPP recommended settings,
- CLIP OS kernel configuration,
- Last public grsecurity patch (options which they disable),
- SECURITY_LOCKDOWN_LSM patchset,
- Direct feedback from Linux kernel maintainers (see #38, #53, #54).
I also created Linux Kernel Defence Map that is a graphical representation of the relationships between security hardening features and the corresponding vulnerability classes or exploitation techniques.
- X86_64
- X86_32
- ARM64
- ARM
You can install the package:
pip install git+https://github.com/a13xp0p0v/kconfig-hardened-check
or simply run ./bin/kconfig-hardened-check from the cloned repository.
usage: kconfig-hardened-check [-h] [--version] [-p {X86_64,X86_32,ARM64,ARM}]
[-c CONFIG]
[-m {verbose,json,show_ok,show_fail}]
A tool for checking the security hardening options of the Linux kernel
optional arguments:
-h, --help show this help message and exit
--version show program's version number and exit
-p {X86_64,X86_32,ARM64,ARM}, --print {X86_64,X86_32,ARM64,ARM}
print security hardening preferences for the selected architecture
-c CONFIG, --config CONFIG
check the kernel config file against these preferences
-m {verbose,json,show_ok,show_fail}, --mode {verbose,json,show_ok,show_fail}
choose the report mode
$ ./bin/kconfig-hardened-check -c kconfig_hardened_check/config_files/distros/ubuntu-focal.config
[+] Config file to check: kconfig_hardened_check/config_files/distros/ubuntu-focal.config
[+] Detected architecture: X86_64
[+] Detected kernel version: 5.4
=========================================================================================================================
option name | desired val | decision | reason | check result
=========================================================================================================================
CONFIG_BUG | y |defconfig | self_protection | OK
CONFIG_SLUB_DEBUG | y |defconfig | self_protection | OK
CONFIG_GCC_PLUGINS | y |defconfig | self_protection | FAIL: not found
CONFIG_STACKPROTECTOR_STRONG | y |defconfig | self_protection | OK
CONFIG_STRICT_KERNEL_RWX | y |defconfig | self_protection | OK
CONFIG_STRICT_MODULE_RWX | y |defconfig | self_protection | OK
CONFIG_REFCOUNT_FULL | y |defconfig | self_protection | FAIL: "is not set"
CONFIG_IOMMU_SUPPORT | y |defconfig | self_protection | OK
CONFIG_RANDOMIZE_BASE | y |defconfig | self_protection | OK
CONFIG_THREAD_INFO_IN_TASK | y |defconfig | self_protection | OK
CONFIG_VMAP_STACK | y |defconfig | self_protection | OK
CONFIG_MICROCODE | y |defconfig | self_protection | OK
CONFIG_RETPOLINE | y |defconfig | self_protection | OK
CONFIG_X86_SMAP | y |defconfig | self_protection | OK
CONFIG_SYN_COOKIES | y |defconfig | self_protection | OK
CONFIG_X86_UMIP | y |defconfig | self_protection | OK: CONFIG_X86_INTEL_UMIP "y"
CONFIG_PAGE_TABLE_ISOLATION | y |defconfig | self_protection | OK
CONFIG_RANDOMIZE_MEMORY | y |defconfig | self_protection | OK
CONFIG_INTEL_IOMMU | y |defconfig | self_protection | OK
CONFIG_AMD_IOMMU | y |defconfig | self_protection | OK
CONFIG_SECURITY_DMESG_RESTRICT | y | kspp | self_protection | FAIL: "is not set"
CONFIG_BUG_ON_DATA_CORRUPTION | y | kspp | self_protection | FAIL: "is not set"
CONFIG_DEBUG_WX | y | kspp | self_protection | OK
CONFIG_SCHED_STACK_END_CHECK | y | kspp | self_protection | OK
CONFIG_SLAB_FREELIST_HARDENED | y | kspp | self_protection | OK
CONFIG_SLAB_FREELIST_RANDOM | y | kspp | self_protection | OK
CONFIG_SHUFFLE_PAGE_ALLOCATOR | y | kspp | self_protection | OK
CONFIG_FORTIFY_SOURCE | y | kspp | self_protection | OK
CONFIG_DEBUG_LIST | y | kspp | self_protection | FAIL: "is not set"
CONFIG_DEBUG_SG | y | kspp | self_protection | FAIL: "is not set"
CONFIG_DEBUG_CREDENTIALS | y | kspp | self_protection | FAIL: "is not set"
CONFIG_DEBUG_NOTIFIERS | y | kspp | self_protection | FAIL: "is not set"
CONFIG_INIT_ON_ALLOC_DEFAULT_ON | y | kspp | self_protection | OK
CONFIG_GCC_PLUGIN_LATENT_ENTROPY | y | kspp | self_protection | FAIL: not found
CONFIG_GCC_PLUGIN_RANDSTRUCT | y | kspp | self_protection | FAIL: not found
CONFIG_HARDENED_USERCOPY | y | kspp | self_protection | OK
CONFIG_HARDENED_USERCOPY_FALLBACK | is not set | kspp | self_protection | FAIL: "y"
CONFIG_HARDENED_USERCOPY_PAGESPAN | is not set | kspp | self_protection | OK
CONFIG_MODULE_SIG | y | kspp | self_protection | OK
CONFIG_MODULE_SIG_ALL | y | kspp | self_protection | OK
CONFIG_MODULE_SIG_SHA512 | y | kspp | self_protection | OK
CONFIG_MODULE_SIG_FORCE | y | kspp | self_protection | FAIL: "is not set"
CONFIG_INIT_STACK_ALL_ZERO | y | kspp | self_protection | FAIL: not found
CONFIG_INIT_ON_FREE_DEFAULT_ON | y | kspp | self_protection | OK: CONFIG_PAGE_POISONING_ZERO "y"
CONFIG_GCC_PLUGIN_STACKLEAK | y | kspp | self_protection | FAIL: not found
CONFIG_RANDOMIZE_KSTACK_OFFSET_DEFAULT | y | kspp | self_protection | FAIL: not found
CONFIG_DEFAULT_MMAP_MIN_ADDR | 65536 | kspp | self_protection | OK
CONFIG_UBSAN_BOUNDS | y |maintainer| self_protection | FAIL: not found
CONFIG_UBSAN_SANITIZE_ALL | y |maintainer| self_protection | FAIL: CONFIG_UBSAN_BOUNDS not "y"
CONFIG_UBSAN_TRAP | y |maintainer| self_protection | FAIL: CONFIG_UBSAN_BOUNDS not "y"
CONFIG_DEBUG_VIRTUAL | y | clipos | self_protection | FAIL: "is not set"
CONFIG_STATIC_USERMODEHELPER | y | clipos | self_protection | FAIL: "is not set"
CONFIG_EFI_DISABLE_PCI_DMA | y | clipos | self_protection | FAIL: not found
CONFIG_SLAB_MERGE_DEFAULT | is not set | clipos | self_protection | FAIL: "y"
CONFIG_RANDOM_TRUST_BOOTLOADER | is not set | clipos | self_protection | FAIL: "y"
CONFIG_RANDOM_TRUST_CPU | is not set | clipos | self_protection | FAIL: "y"
CONFIG_GCC_PLUGIN_RANDSTRUCT_PERFORMANCE | is not set | clipos | self_protection | FAIL: CONFIG_GCC_PLUGIN_RANDSTRUCT not "y"
CONFIG_STACKLEAK_METRICS | is not set | clipos | self_protection | FAIL: CONFIG_GCC_PLUGIN_STACKLEAK not "y"
CONFIG_STACKLEAK_RUNTIME_DISABLE | is not set | clipos | self_protection | FAIL: CONFIG_GCC_PLUGIN_STACKLEAK not "y"
CONFIG_INTEL_IOMMU_DEFAULT_ON | y | clipos | self_protection | FAIL: "is not set"
CONFIG_INTEL_IOMMU_SVM | y | clipos | self_protection | OK
CONFIG_RESET_ATTACK_MITIGATION | y | my | self_protection | OK
CONFIG_AMD_IOMMU_V2 | y | my | self_protection | FAIL: "m"
CONFIG_SECURITY | y |defconfig | security_policy | OK
CONFIG_SECURITY_YAMA | y | kspp | security_policy | OK
CONFIG_SECURITY_WRITABLE_HOOKS | is not set | my | security_policy | OK: not found
CONFIG_SECURITY_LOCKDOWN_LSM | y | clipos | security_policy | OK
CONFIG_SECURITY_LOCKDOWN_LSM_EARLY | y | clipos | security_policy | OK
CONFIG_LOCK_DOWN_KERNEL_FORCE_CONFIDENTIALITY| y | clipos | security_policy | FAIL: "is not set"
CONFIG_SECURITY_SAFESETID | y | my | security_policy | OK
CONFIG_SECURITY_LOADPIN | y | my | security_policy | FAIL: "is not set"
CONFIG_SECURITY_LOADPIN_ENFORCE | y | my | security_policy | FAIL: CONFIG_SECURITY_LOADPIN not "y"
CONFIG_SECCOMP | y |defconfig | cut_attack_surface | OK
CONFIG_SECCOMP_FILTER | y |defconfig | cut_attack_surface | OK
CONFIG_STRICT_DEVMEM | y |defconfig | cut_attack_surface | OK
CONFIG_ACPI_CUSTOM_METHOD | is not set | kspp | cut_attack_surface | OK
CONFIG_COMPAT_BRK | is not set | kspp | cut_attack_surface | OK
CONFIG_DEVKMEM | is not set | kspp | cut_attack_surface | OK
CONFIG_COMPAT_VDSO | is not set | kspp | cut_attack_surface | OK
CONFIG_BINFMT_MISC | is not set | kspp | cut_attack_surface | FAIL: "m"
CONFIG_INET_DIAG | is not set | kspp | cut_attack_surface | FAIL: "m"
CONFIG_KEXEC | is not set | kspp | cut_attack_surface | FAIL: "y"
CONFIG_PROC_KCORE | is not set | kspp | cut_attack_surface | FAIL: "y"
CONFIG_LEGACY_PTYS | is not set | kspp | cut_attack_surface | FAIL: "y"
CONFIG_HIBERNATION | is not set | kspp | cut_attack_surface | FAIL: "y"
CONFIG_IA32_EMULATION | is not set | kspp | cut_attack_surface | FAIL: "y"
CONFIG_X86_X32 | is not set | kspp | cut_attack_surface | FAIL: "y"
CONFIG_MODIFY_LDT_SYSCALL | is not set | kspp | cut_attack_surface | FAIL: "y"
CONFIG_OABI_COMPAT | is not set | kspp | cut_attack_surface | OK: not found
CONFIG_MODULES | is not set | kspp | cut_attack_surface | FAIL: "y"
CONFIG_DEVMEM | is not set | kspp | cut_attack_surface | FAIL: "y"
CONFIG_IO_STRICT_DEVMEM | y | kspp | cut_attack_surface | FAIL: "is not set"
CONFIG_LEGACY_VSYSCALL_NONE | y | kspp | cut_attack_surface | FAIL: "is not set"
CONFIG_ZSMALLOC_STAT | is not set |grsecurity| cut_attack_surface | OK
CONFIG_PAGE_OWNER | is not set |grsecurity| cut_attack_surface | OK
CONFIG_DEBUG_KMEMLEAK | is not set |grsecurity| cut_attack_surface | OK
CONFIG_BINFMT_AOUT | is not set |grsecurity| cut_attack_surface | OK: not found
CONFIG_KPROBE_EVENTS | is not set |grsecurity| cut_attack_surface | FAIL: "y"
CONFIG_UPROBE_EVENTS | is not set |grsecurity| cut_attack_surface | FAIL: "y"
CONFIG_GENERIC_TRACER | is not set |grsecurity| cut_attack_surface | FAIL: "y"
CONFIG_FUNCTION_TRACER | is not set |grsecurity| cut_attack_surface | FAIL: "y"
CONFIG_STACK_TRACER | is not set |grsecurity| cut_attack_surface | FAIL: "y"
CONFIG_HIST_TRIGGERS | is not set |grsecurity| cut_attack_surface | FAIL: "y"
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IO_TRACE | is not set |grsecurity| cut_attack_surface | FAIL: "y"
CONFIG_PROC_VMCORE | is not set |grsecurity| cut_attack_surface | FAIL: "y"
CONFIG_PROC_PAGE_MONITOR | is not set |grsecurity| cut_attack_surface | FAIL: "y"
CONFIG_USELIB | is not set |grsecurity| cut_attack_surface | FAIL: "y"
CONFIG_CHECKPOINT_RESTORE | is not set |grsecurity| cut_attack_surface | FAIL: "y"
CONFIG_USERFAULTFD | is not set |grsecurity| cut_attack_surface | FAIL: "y"
CONFIG_HWPOISON_INJECT | is not set |grsecurity| cut_attack_surface | FAIL: "m"
CONFIG_MEM_SOFT_DIRTY | is not set |grsecurity| cut_attack_surface | FAIL: "y"
CONFIG_DEVPORT | is not set |grsecurity| cut_attack_surface | FAIL: "y"
CONFIG_DEBUG_FS | is not set |grsecurity| cut_attack_surface | FAIL: "y"
CONFIG_NOTIFIER_ERROR_INJECTION | is not set |grsecurity| cut_attack_surface | FAIL: "m"
CONFIG_FAIL_FUTEX | is not set |grsecurity| cut_attack_surface | OK: not found
CONFIG_PUNIT_ATOM_DEBUG | is not set |grsecurity| cut_attack_surface | FAIL: "m"
CONFIG_ACPI_CONFIGFS | is not set |grsecurity| cut_attack_surface | FAIL: "m"
CONFIG_EDAC_DEBUG | is not set |grsecurity| cut_attack_surface | OK
CONFIG_DRM_I915_DEBUG | is not set |grsecurity| cut_attack_surface | OK
CONFIG_BCACHE_CLOSURES_DEBUG | is not set |grsecurity| cut_attack_surface | OK
CONFIG_DVB_C8SECTPFE | is not set |grsecurity| cut_attack_surface | OK: not found
CONFIG_MTD_SLRAM | is not set |grsecurity| cut_attack_surface | FAIL: "m"
CONFIG_MTD_PHRAM | is not set |grsecurity| cut_attack_surface | FAIL: "m"
CONFIG_IO_URING | is not set |grsecurity| cut_attack_surface | FAIL: "y"
CONFIG_KCMP | is not set |grsecurity| cut_attack_surface | OK: not found
CONFIG_RSEQ | is not set |grsecurity| cut_attack_surface | FAIL: "y"
CONFIG_LATENCYTOP | is not set |grsecurity| cut_attack_surface | OK
CONFIG_KCOV | is not set |grsecurity| cut_attack_surface | OK
CONFIG_PROVIDE_OHCI1394_DMA_INIT | is not set |grsecurity| cut_attack_surface | OK
CONFIG_SUNRPC_DEBUG | is not set |grsecurity| cut_attack_surface | FAIL: "y"
CONFIG_PTDUMP_DEBUGFS | is not set |grsecurity| cut_attack_surface | OK: not found
CONFIG_DRM_LEGACY | is not set |maintainer| cut_attack_surface | OK
CONFIG_FB | is not set |maintainer| cut_attack_surface | FAIL: "y"
CONFIG_VT | is not set |maintainer| cut_attack_surface | FAIL: "y"
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_FD | is not set |maintainer| cut_attack_surface | FAIL: "m"
CONFIG_AIO | is not set |grapheneos| cut_attack_surface | FAIL: "y"
CONFIG_STAGING | is not set | clipos | cut_attack_surface | FAIL: "y"
CONFIG_KSM | is not set | clipos | cut_attack_surface | FAIL: "y"
CONFIG_KALLSYMS | is not set | clipos | cut_attack_surface | FAIL: "y"
CONFIG_X86_VSYSCALL_EMULATION | is not set | clipos | cut_attack_surface | FAIL: "y"
CONFIG_MAGIC_SYSRQ | is not set | clipos | cut_attack_surface | FAIL: "y"
CONFIG_KEXEC_FILE | is not set | clipos | cut_attack_surface | FAIL: "y"
CONFIG_USER_NS | is not set | clipos | cut_attack_surface | FAIL: "y"
CONFIG_X86_MSR | is not set | clipos | cut_attack_surface | FAIL: "m"
CONFIG_X86_CPUID | is not set | clipos | cut_attack_surface | FAIL: "m"
CONFIG_X86_IOPL_IOPERM | is not set | clipos | cut_attack_surface | OK: not found
CONFIG_ACPI_TABLE_UPGRADE | is not set | clipos | cut_attack_surface | FAIL: "y"
CONFIG_EFI_CUSTOM_SSDT_OVERLAYS | is not set | clipos | cut_attack_surface | OK: not found
CONFIG_LDISC_AUTOLOAD | is not set | clipos | cut_attack_surface | FAIL: "y"
CONFIG_X86_INTEL_TSX_MODE_OFF | y | clipos | cut_attack_surface | OK
CONFIG_EFI_TEST | is not set | lockdown | cut_attack_surface | FAIL: "m"
CONFIG_BPF_SYSCALL | is not set | lockdown | cut_attack_surface | FAIL: "y"
CONFIG_MMIOTRACE_TEST | is not set | lockdown | cut_attack_surface | OK
CONFIG_KPROBES | is not set | lockdown | cut_attack_surface | FAIL: "y"
CONFIG_TRIM_UNUSED_KSYMS | y | my | cut_attack_surface | FAIL: not found
CONFIG_MMIOTRACE | is not set | my | cut_attack_surface | FAIL: "y"
CONFIG_LIVEPATCH | is not set | my | cut_attack_surface | FAIL: "y"
CONFIG_IP_DCCP | is not set | my | cut_attack_surface | FAIL: "m"
CONFIG_IP_SCTP | is not set | my | cut_attack_surface | FAIL: "m"
CONFIG_FTRACE | is not set | my | cut_attack_surface | FAIL: "y"
CONFIG_VIDEO_VIVID | is not set | my | cut_attack_surface | FAIL: "m"
CONFIG_INPUT_EVBUG | is not set | my | cut_attack_surface | FAIL: "m"
CONFIG_INTEGRITY | y |defconfig |userspace_hardening | OK
CONFIG_ARCH_MMAP_RND_BITS | 32 | clipos |userspace_hardening | FAIL: "28"
[+] Config check is finished: 'OK' - 68 / 'FAIL' - 96
I usually update the kernel security hardening recommendations after each Linux kernel release.
So the version of kconfig-hardened-check is associated with the corresponding version of the kernel.
The version format is: [major_number].[kernel_version].[kernel_patchlevel]
Q: How disabling CONFIG_USER_NS cuts the attack surface? It's needed for containers!
A: Yes, the CONFIG_USER_NS option provides some isolation between the userspace programs,
but the tool recommends disabling it to cut the attack surface of the kernel.
The rationale:
-
A nice LWN article about the corresponding LKML discussion: https://lwn.net/Articles/673597/
-
A twitter thread about
CONFIG_USER_NSand security: https://twitter.com/robertswiecki/status/1095447678949953541 -
A good overview of the trade-off between having user namespaces enabled, disabled and available only for root: NixOS/nixpkgs#84522 (comment)
Q: Why CONFIG_GCC_PLUGINS is automatically disabled during the kernel compilation?
A: It means that your gcc doesn't support plugins. For example, if you have gcc-7 on Ubuntu,
try to install gcc-7-plugin-dev package, it should help.
Q: KSPP and CLIP OS recommend CONFIG_PANIC_ON_OOPS=y. Why doesn't this tool do the same?
A: I personally don't support this recommendation because it provides easy denial-of-service
attacks for the whole system (kernel oops is not a rare situation). I think having CONFIG_BUG is enough here --
if we have a kernel oops in the process context, the offending/attacking process is killed.
Q: What about performance impact of these security hardening options?
A: Ike Devolder @BlackIkeEagle made some performance tests and described the results in this article.
Q: Why enabling CONFIG_STATIC_USERMODEHELPER breaks various things in my GNU/Linux system?
Do I really need that feature?
A: Linux kernel usermode helpers can be used for privilege escalation in kernel exploits
(example 1, example 2). CONFIG_STATIC_USERMODEHELPER prevents that method. But it
requires the corresponding support in the userspace: see the example implementation by
Tycho Andersen @tych0.
Q: Does my kernel have all those mitigations of Transient Execution Vulnerabilities in my hardware?
A: Checking the kernel config is not enough to answer this question. I highly recommend using spectre-meltdown-checker tool maintained by Stéphane Lesimple @speed47.
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