Hardening the Linux kernel

hardening-the-linux-kernel

Sven Vermeulen Fri 20 July 2012

I have moved out the kernel configuration settings (and sysctl stuff) from the Hardening Gentoo Linux benchmark into its own Hardening the Linux kernel guide. It covers some common hardening-related kernel configuration entries (although I'm sure I'm missing a lot of them still) as well as grSecurity and PaX settings (which is something the Gentoo Hardened project works on), and finally the system controls (sysctl) that are commonly suggested for a more secure system.

The overview of hardening guides now thus contains three guides: one for Gentoo, one for OpenSSH and one for the kernel. These ones were definitions I already had in the past so were "quickly" possible to write down. I'm going to look at BIND and DHCP next.

But simultaneously, I'm looking at Linux IMA/EVM support in the hope I can have this supported in Gentoo as well. Looks like a promising technology, and if I can get it working, it'll definitely deserve its place within Gentoo Hardened!