What is SELinux - RHEL OS https://www.hacktheforum.com/rhel-os/what-is-selinux/ Hack The Forum Discussion Board en Sun, 31 May 2026 10:46:52 +0000 wpForo 60 What is SELinux https://www.hacktheforum.com/rhel-os/what-is-selinux/#post-19897 Sun, 19 Oct 2025 12:03:20 +0000 SELinux stands for Security-Enhanced Linux. It’s a Linux kernel security module that provides a mandatory access control (MAC) system, which enforces fine-grained security policies to restrict how processes and users can access files, ports, and other resources on a Linux system.

 

  • Traditional Linux permissions (owner/group/others) are discretionary access control (DAC), meaning users/processes can change permissions themselves.

  • SELinux adds an extra layer of security that cannot be bypassed by users/processes, enforcing strict policies defined by the system administrator or security team.

  • Helps contain compromised processes and reduce the impact of vulnerabilities by limiting what each process can do.

SELinux Modes

Mode Description Use Case
Enforcing Enforces the policy and denies unauthorized access Production environments for strong security
Permissive Logs policy violations but does not block them Troubleshooting and policy development
Disabled SELinux is turned off Rarely recommended, disables SELinux entirely

SELinux Components

  • Policy: Defines rules for what is allowed (e.g., which processes can access which files).

  • Types/Contexts: Labels assigned to files, processes, ports, etc.

  • Targeted Policy: The default policy in RHEL and OpenShift that confines specific system daemons and services.

  • Booleans: Toggle parts of SELinux policy on/off without reloading the entire policy.

 

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