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The operating system must implement address space layout randomization to protect its memory from unauthorized code execution.

STIG ID: SRG-OS-000433-GPOS-00193  |  SRG: SRG-OS-000433 |  Severity: medium (CAT II)  |  CCI: CCI-002824 |  Vulnerability Id: V-203754

Vulnerability Discussion

Some adversaries launch attacks with the intent of executing code in non-executable regions of memory or in memory locations that are prohibited. Security safeguards employed to protect memory include, for example, data execution prevention and address space layout randomization. Data execution prevention safeguards can either be hardware-enforced or software-enforced with hardware providing the greater strength of mechanism.

Examples of attacks are buffer overflow attacks.

Check

Verify the operating system implements address space layout randomization to protect its memory from unauthorized code execution. If it does not, this is a finding.

Fix

Configure the operating system to implement address space layout randomization to protect its memory from unauthorized code execution.