mounting filesystems with "noexec"

[Eli Dart]

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randall s. ehren wrote:
>> With all that has been said so far, what is the actual point of
>> the noexec flag? 
> 
> 
> it prevents executables from being executed on a specific partition.
> 
> for instance, you can mount /var with the noexec flag and if you then
> try to run any binaries (executables) from /var they simply will not
> execute.

Note that while there may be many ways to circumvent noexec in many
circumstances, it still raises the bar.  If attempts to execute on a
filesystem mounted noexec can be logged (and the logs are sent off-box)
you have a chance of seeing something.  Also, if the execution is part
of an automated tool, noexec can cause the tool to fail.

It may not be perfect, but I don't consider it useless.

		--eli
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