Vulnerability Discussion

Kernel page-table isolation is a kernel feature that mitigates the Meltdown security vulnerability and hardens the kernel against attempts to bypass kernel address space layout randomization (KASLR).

Satisfies: SRG-OS-000433-GPOS-00193, SRG-OS-000095-GPOS-00049

Check

Verify RHEL 10 enables kernel page-table isolation with the following command:

$ sudo grubby --info=ALL | grep args | grep -v 'pti=on'

If any output is returned, this is a finding.

Check that kernel page-table isolation is enabled by default to persist in kernel updates:

$ sudo grep pti /etc/default/grub
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="pti=on"

If "pti" is not set to "on", is missing, or is commented out, this is a finding.

Fix

Configure RHEL 10 to enable kernel page-table isolation with the following command:

$ sudo grubby --update-kernel=ALL --args="pti=on"