AIX kernel core dumps must be disabled unless needed.

Overview

Finding ID	Version	Rule ID	IA Controls	Severity
V-215397	AIX7-00-003094	SV-215397r508663_rule		Medium

Description
Kernel core dumps may contain the full contents of system memory at the time of the crash. Kernel core dumps may consume a considerable amount of disk space and may result in Denial of Service by exhausting the available space on the target file system. The kernel core dump process may increase the amount of time a system is unavailable due to a crash. Kernel core dumps can be useful for kernel debugging.

Description

Kernel core dumps may contain the full contents of system memory at the time of the crash. Kernel core dumps may consume a considerable amount of disk space and may result in Denial of Service by exhausting the available space on the target file system. The kernel core dump process may increase the amount of time a system is unavailable due to a crash. Kernel core dumps can be useful for kernel debugging.

STIG	Date
IBM AIX 7.x Security Technical Implementation Guide	2021-11-19

Details

Check Text ( C-16595r294642_chk )
Determine if kernel core dumps are enabled on the system using command: # sysdumpdev -l primary /dev/sysdumpnull secondary /dev/sysdumpnull Look at both the primary and secondary dump devices. If either the primary or secondary dump device is not "/dev/sysdumpnull", this is a finding.

Fix Text (F-16593r294643_fix)
Disable kernel core dumps on the system by setting primary and secondary dump devices to "sysdumpnull" by running following commands: # sysdumpdev -P -p /dev/sysdumpnull # sysdumpdev -P -s /dev/sysdumpnull