Level 1 - Server Level 1 - Workstation
Setting the boot loader password will require that anyone rebooting the system must enter a password before being able to set command line boot parameters.
Requiring a boot password upon execution of the boot loader will prevent an unauthorized user from entering boot parameters or changing the boot partition. This prevents users from weakening security (e.g. turning off SELinux at boot time).
Run the following commands and verify output matches:
# grep "^set superusers" /boot/grub2/grub.cfg set superusers="<username>" # grep "^password" /boot/grub2/grub.cfg password_pbkdf2 <username> <encrypted-password>
Create an encrypted password with grub-mkpasswd-pbkdf2:
# grub2-mkpasswd-pbkdf2 Enter password: <password> Reenter password: <password> Your PBKDF2 is <encrypted-password>
Add the following into /etc/grub.d/01_users or a custom /etc/grub.d configuration file:
cat <<EOF set superusers="<username>" password_pbkdf2 <username> <encrypted-password> EOF
Run the following command to update the grub2 configuration:
# grub2-mkconfig > /boot/grub2/grub.cfg
This recommendation is designed around the grub bootloader, if LILO or another bootloader is in use in your environment enact equivalent settings.