Securing Your /tmp Partition with Cpanel/WHM Published: Nov 07, 2003

• Rating

  5/5

Comments (39)

• 
  Thomas Dawson 13:19, November 12, 2003

  mke2fs command is not recognized in my ssh. What do I do?
• 
  Ramprage 15:22, November 14, 2003

  Use /sbin/mke2fs instead
• 
  kel 22:58, November 15, 2003

  How to increase the /tmp space?
  
  I got this error:
  
  Warning: Unknown(): write failed: No space left on device (28) in Unknown on line 0
  
  Warning: Unknown(): Failed to write session data (files). Please verify that the current setting of session.save_path is correct (/tmp) in Unknown on line 0
  
  Please help as soon.
  
  thanks
• 
  Don Holeman 22:18, November 16, 2003

  I just followed these directions, pretty much flawlessly. Got one warning about it not being a block special device when I went to create the partition.
  
  Thanks
• 
  simoa 02:10, November 17, 2003

  I run a chkrootkit and found this after I secured the /tmp partition
  Checking `aliens'...
  /dev/tmpMnt
  
  is this normal or I have to worry about?? PLease reply as soon thanks
  
• 
  Ramprage 14:35, November 18, 2003

  The chkrootkit aliens found message is normal when creating a tmp from a file, no worries.
• 
  mazen 23:42, January 6, 2004

  I make the step by step
  when I type mount command I get this message
  
  root@server [/]# mount -o loop,noexec,nosuid,rw /dev/tmpMnt /tmp
  mount: Could not find any loop device, and, according to /proc/devices,
  this kernel does not know about the loop device.
  (If so, then recompile or `insmod loop.o'.)
  
• 
  cruz 20:37, January 9, 2004

  3 things.
  Does this break cpanel in its normal use and in updates?
  If I want to revert back to the way it was before doing this modification, how is it done?
  Do I have to reboot the server once this I implement the changes?
• 
  Mo 12:42, January 16, 2004

  use: cp -pR /tmp /tmp_backup
  instead of : cp -R /tmp /tmp_backup
  
  add -p to preserve file permitions and ownership.
• 
  Shanlar 09:50, April 3, 2004

  ok i made my tmp to big, how do i reverse this process? tmp keeps saying device is busy and wont umount...
• 
  Gary 12:15, May 16, 2004

  remember though, this wont save you for losers who run scripts by perl php etc....those commands can still work in /tmp
• 
  Rona 11:32, May 22, 2004

  Can anybody tell me now how to unsecure /tmp because when i install DigiChat it's give me this error
  root@server [/home]# sh ./Install_DigiChat.bin -i console /home
  Preparing to install...
  Extracting the JRE from the installer archive...
  Unpacking the JRE...
  Extracting the installation resources from the installer archive...
  Configuring the installer for this system's environment...
  
  Launching installer...
  
  ./Install_DigiChat.bin: /tmp/install.dir.9155/Linux/resource/jre/bin/java: /bin/sh: bad interpreter: Permission denied
  
  
  Hope to get help ... :)
  Regards
• 
  ca 18:14, May 23, 2004

  @Shanlar
  I suppose you should take it out of fstab, do a server reboot and create a tmp directory again.
• 
  Michael Curtis 16:39, May 24, 2004

  Instructions worked perfect for me other than that one warning about a block device.
  One tip, any path which exists and is owned by 'nobody'... create the directory under /tmp and make a symlink... this can be used to make any path noexec, anywhere on the server... just make sure /tmp has enough space ;)
• 
  C0NIk 20:32, June 9, 2004

  well there is a better way for secure the tmp
  
  root@server [/]# cd scripts ; ./securetmp
  
  thats all and it well secure the /var/tmp as well
  
  bye
• 
  GIGI 04:38, June 17, 2004

  look this<br />
  ------------<br />
  root@localhost [~]# sh ./Install_DigiChat.bin -i console<br />
  Preparing to install...<br />
  tail: `-1' option is obsolete; use `-n 1'<br />
  Try `tail --help' for more information.<br />
  ./Install_DigiChat.bin: line 329: [: `)' expected, found -z<br />
  WARNING! The amount of /tmp disk space required and/or available<br />
  could not be determined. The installation will be attempted anyway.<br />
  Extracting the JRE from the installer archive...<br />
  Unpacking the JRE...<br />
  Extracting the installation resources from the installer archive...<br />
  Configuring the installer for this system's environment...<br />
  <br />
  Launching installer...<br />
  <br />
  ./Install_DigiChat.bin: /tmp/install.dir.3158/Linux/resource/jre/bin/java: /bin/sh: bad interpreter: Permission denied<br />
  -------<br />
  pliz help me....
• 
  Robert Greenwood 12:14, July 9, 2004

  You will need to increase the size of the mount
• 
  Foow 18:15, August 23, 2004

  can you tell me why you set the /tmp partition to ext2 and not ext3?
• 
  Mark 10:18, October 21, 2004

  i already run /scripts/securetmp from cpanel, but it seem that /tmp still not secured, can i use this tutorial while i already run /scripts/securetmp?
• 
  JLChafardet 08:10, November 3, 2004

  have any one tried this over Plesk Based webservers?<br />
  <br />
  if yes, please let me know if there is any change.<br />
  <br />
  regards,<br />
  <br />
  JLChafardet
• 
  Sotek 15:58, November 10, 2004

  change this:<br />
  <br />
  code:<br />
  chmod 0777 /tmp<br />
  <br />
  and put this:<br />
  <br />
  chmod 1777 /tmp<br />
  <br />
  beacuse you need to set the bit who lets everyone write on /tmp
• 
  kaveh 16:29, December 17, 2004

  hi<br />
  how can i resize the partition ? <br />
  97% full !!!!
• 
  Big AL 03:11, February 25, 2005

  you can't resize a partition, just move things to /home/tmp and link /tmp to /home/tmp via ln -s /home/tmp /tmp
• 
  Mateus 20:45, March 7, 2005

  Hi, thanks for this tuto..<br />
  But, i already have this partition <br />
  LABEL=/tmp /tmp ext3 defaults 1 2<br />
  <br />
  my server is in theplanet and is the default mount for them.. how can i modify this ? thank you!
• 
  Lechoad 07:11, April 19, 2005

  how do you undo this?
• 
  netkinetics 20:19, July 21, 2005

  Change defaults to say noexec,nosuid if you already have a seperate /tmp partition.<br />
  <br />
  Then umount / mount it again. <br />
  <br />
  Also do the same with the /dev/shm mount.<br />
  <br />
  Don't forget to secure /usr/local/apache/proxy, its 777 and owned by nobdoy after every apache build on cpanel servers. Change it to 0400 and owned by root.root , or safely remove it. If you use mod_proxy you should setup another loop device like in this tutorial and mount it to /usr/local/apache/proxy to run your proxy safely. <br />
  <br />
  
• 
  rayan 12:14, July 25, 2005

  hi<br />
  ist same steps for directadmin control panel?<br />
  
• 
  Steve 18:22, July 26, 2005

  Yeah it should be the same Rayan, it's not control panel reliant.<br />
  
• 
  David 21:55, July 31, 2005

  Can i add the "noexec" just by changing the fstab?
• 
  complex 05:02, December 25, 2005

  Just in case anyone wants to do this with FreeBSD, see this page (example 16-5 or 16-7):<br />
  <br />
  http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/disks-virtual.html
• 
  Kapil 20:23, April 1, 2006

  If you have cpanel for freebsd, then just run the script /tmp/securetmp<br />
  <br />
  
• 
  Mateus 05:18, May 16, 2006

  Securetmp from cpanel does not work well, it will not protect you /tmp dir, and, this won't protect your tmp from executing Perl Scripts!.. :/
• 
  M.S. 03:54, June 6, 2006

  Would you whiners stop bitching and pick up a manual? This guy was kind enough to offer you a solution. So STFU. As for the perl/php errors, just edit your php.ini and make sure safe mode is on, sql safe mode is on, and make sure that url_fopen and file uploads are off. you'll be good to go.
• 
  xkasi 14:27, June 28, 2006

  To increase the /tmp size just redo the tutorial with a bigger count and an different filename.<br />
  e.g: <br />
  dd if=/dev/zero of=tmpMnt2 bs=1024 count=2000000<br />
  <br />
  Greetz
• 
  Vijay 13:13, October 13, 2006

  Hi,<br />
  <br />
  /scripts/securetmp<br />
  Would you like to secure /tmp & /var/tmp at boot time? (y/n) y<br />
  Would you like to secure /tmp & /var/tmp now? (y/n) y<br />
  Securing /tmp & /var/tmp<br />
  /tmp is already secure<br />
  /var/tmp is already secure<br />
  Process Complete.<br />
  <br />
  But fstab does not show noexec,<br />
  # cat /etc/fstab<br />
  # This file is edited by fstab-sync - see 'man fstab-sync' for details<br />
  LABEL=/tmp /tmp ext3 defaults 1 2<br />
  <br />
  I request others to verify whether following method is correct for CPanel 10.8. ?<br />
  <br />
  1) Because cpanel installed with /tmp saperate partition. - we do not need to change/recreate partition & copy.<br />
  2) modify /etc/fstab to following.<br />
  LABEL=/tmp /tmp ext3 loop,noexec,nosuid,rw 0 0<br />
  3) reboot server.<br />
  
• 
  steve 23:40, January 4, 2007

  Use this to create a 512 MB /tmp parition<br />
  <br />
  dd if=/dev/zero of=tmpMnt bs=1024 count=2097152
• 
  Daniel 16:56, March 8, 2008

  Which way increase space folder / tmp? <br />
  I created folder / tmp with 100MB. <br />
  Now folder / tmp fills fast. <br />
  I need to increase 2GB. <br />
  Someone can help me?
• 
  Rick 03:51, June 7, 2008

  I just wanted to say thanks for this tutorial! My /tmp partition was created too small, and my /home partition is huge, so I used your tutorial to mount a new tmp partition inside my /home directory. Worked like a charm, thanks a bunch! :)
• 
  guy 00:41, September 10, 2008

  so does this just create another tmp folder in /dev rather than /var/tmpDSK or something? how does everything forward to this folder rather than the old just /tmp? I don't quite understand, thanks.