What is SELinux?
SELinux is a powerful security feature that has been around for over 20 years, gaining more and more popularity with each passing year. It is a type of Mandatory Access Control (MAC) system that provides an extra layer of security above the traditional user-based security systems. SELinux provides the ability to restrict processes and users, making it more difficult for malicious activities to take place. In this blog, we will explore the details of SELinux and how it can enhance your system’s security.
SELinux Modes:
- Enforcing: Enforcing mode is the default and most secure mode, and it forces all rules to be enforced.
- Permissive: Permissive mode allows all rules to be enforced but does not actually enforce them
- Disabled: Disabled mode turns off the SELinux policy completely.
- Targeted: argeted mode only applies security policies to specific processes or network services.
How to disable SELinux on CentOS 7.x:
By default, SELinux is enabled and is on in enforcing mode in CentOS 7. It is recommended to keep SELinux enforcing mode, but sometimes you may need to set it to permissive mode or disable it completely. In this section, we will demonstrate how to disable SELinux on CentOS 7 systems.
- Step 1: Check the Current Status of SELinux
The first step in disabling SELinux on CentOS 7.x is to check the current status of SELinux. This can be done by running the following command:
sestatus
If SELinux is enabled, the output of this command will look something like this:
SELinux status: enabled
If SELinux is disabled, the output will be something like this:
SELinux status: disabled
If the output indicates that SELinux is enabled, then proceed to the next step.
- Step 2: Edit the SELinux Configuration File
The next step is to edit the SELinux configuration file. This file is located at /etc/selinux/config.
Open the file in a text editor and set the SELinux parameter to disabled. The SELinux configuration file should look something like this after being edited:
# This file controls the state of SELinux on the system.# SELinux= can take one of these three values:
# enforcing – SELinux security policy is enforced.
# permissive – SELinux prints warnings instead of enforcing.
# disabled – No SELinux policy is loaded.
SELinux=disabled
Save the file and exit the text editor.
- Step 3: Reboot the System
The last step is to reboot the system. This will apply the changes that were made to the SELinux configuration file.
After the system has been rebooted, SELinux will be disabled. However, it is important to understand the implications of disabling SELinux, as it can potentially leave the system vulnerable to security threats.
Conclusion
In this guide, we explained how to disable SELinux on CentOS 7.x on your offshore server with WebCare360. We also discussed the potential risks and implications of disabling SELinux. Disabling SELinux can leave the system vulnerable to security threats, so it is important to understand the implications before proceeding.
