1.1.7 Ensure noexec option set on /dev/shm partition

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Information

The noexec mount option specifies that the filesystem cannot contain executable binaries.

Note: /dev/shm is mounted automatically by systemd. /dev/shm needs to be added to /etc/fstab to add mount options even though it is already being mounted on boot.

Rationale:

Setting this option on a file system prevents users from executing programs from shared memory. This deters users from introducing potentially malicious software on the system.

Solution

Edit the /etc/fstab file and add noexec to the fourth field (mounting options) for the /dev/shm partition. See the fstab(5) manual page for more information.
Run the following command to remount /dev/shm:

# mount -o remount,noexec,nodev,nosuid /dev/shm

See Also

https://workbench.cisecurity.org/files/3288