---
title: Center for Internet Security (CIS) Azure Linux 3.0 benchmark
description: Learn how AKS applies the CIS benchmark with the Azure Linux 3.0 image
author: davidsmatlak
ms.author: davidsmatlak
ms.service: azure-kubernetes-service
ms.subservice: aks-security
ms.custom: linux-related-content
ms.topic: concept-article
ms.date: 08/26/2025
# Customer intent: As a cloud security engineer, I want to understand the CIS benchmark compliance for the Azure Linux Container Host in AKS, so that I can ensure our deployment meets essential security standards and minimizes vulnerabilities.
---

# Center for Internet Security (CIS) Azure Linux 3.0 benchmark

> [!IMPORTANT]
> This article applies only to Azure Linux 3.0 and the Azure Linux 3.0 Container Host image used by AKS. The recommendation statuses and guidance reflect the CIS Azure Linux 3.0 Benchmark v1.0 and a point-in-time Azure Linux 3.0 image (released July 2 2025). They might not apply to other Azure Linux releases (for example Azure Linux 2.0). Verify the OS version and benchmark version before applying guidance.

The security OS configuration applied to the Azure Linux Container Host for AKS image is based on the Azure Linux security baseline, which aligns with the CIS benchmark. As a secure service, AKS complies with SOC, ISO, PCI DSS, and HIPAA standards. For more information about the Azure Linux Container Host security, see [Security concepts for clusters in Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS)][security-concepts-aks]. To learn more about the CIS benchmark, see [Center for Internet Security (CIS) Benchmarks][cis-benchmarks]. For more information on the Azure security baselines for Linux, see [Linux security baseline][linux-security-baseline].

## Recommendations

The table has four sections:

* **CIS ID:** The associated rule ID with each of the baseline rules.
* **Recommendation description:** A description of the recommendation issued by the CIS benchmark.
* **Level:** L1, or Level 1, recommends essential basic security requirements that can be configured on any system and should cause little or no interruption of service or reduced functionality.
* **Status:**
    * *Pass* - The recommendation has been applied.
    * *Fail* - The recommendation hasn't been applied.
    * *N/A* - The recommendation relates to manifest file permission requirements that aren't relevant to AKS.
    * *Depends on Environment* - The recommendation is applied in the user's specific environment and isn't controlled by AKS.
    * *Equivalent Control* - The recommendation has been implemented in a different equivalent manner.
* **Reason:**
    * *Potential Operation Impact* - The recommendation wasn't applied because it would have a negative effect on the service.
    * *Covered Elsewhere* - The recommendation is covered by another control in Azure cloud compute.

### Azure Linux 3.0 Benchmarks

The following are the results from the [CIS Azure Linux 3.0 Benchmark v1.0][cis-benchmark-azure-linux]  recommendations based on the CIS rules:

| CIS ID | Recommendation description | Status | Reason |
|---|---|---|---|
|1.1.1.1|Ensure cramfs kernel module is not available|Pass||
|1.1.1.2|Ensure freevxfs kernel module is not available|Pass||
|1.1.1.3|Ensure hfs kernel module is not available|Pass||
|1.1.1.4|Ensure hfsplus kernel module is not available|Pass||
|1.1.1.5|Ensure jffs2 kernel module is not available|Pass||
|1.1.1.6|Ensure unused filesystems kernel modules are not available|N/A||
|1.1.2.1.1|Ensure /tmp is a separate partition|Pass||
|1.1.2.1.2|Ensure nodev option set on /tmp partition|Pass||
|1.1.2.1.3|Ensure nosuid option set on /tmp partition|Pass||
|1.1.2.2.1|Ensure /dev/shm is a separate partition|Pass||
|1.1.2.2.2|Ensure nodev option set on /dev/shm partition|Pass||
|1.1.2.2.3|Ensure nosuid option set on /dev/shm partition|Pass||
|1.2.1.1|Ensure GPG keys are configured|N/A||
|1.2.1.2|Ensure gpgcheck is configured|Pass||
|1.2.1.3|Ensure TDNF gpgcheck is globally activated|Pass||
|1.2.1.4|Ensure package manager repositories are configured|N/A||
|1.3.1|Ensure address space layout randomization is enabled|Fail| CIS ID 1.3.1 requires the OS to explicitly set a configuration to enable ASLR. In Azure Linux 3.0, this is the default behavior. However, to meet this benchmark and ensure the OS is resilient against upstream default changes, this configuration will be explicitly set in an upcoming release.  |
|1.3.2|Ensure ptrace_scope is restricted|Pass||
|1.3.3|Ensure core dump backtraces are disabled|Pass||
|1.3.4|Ensure core dump storage is disabled|Pass||
|1.4.1|Ensure local login warning banner is configured properly|Pass||
|1.4.2|Ensure remote login warning banner is configured properly|Pass||
|1.4.3|Ensure access to /etc/motd is configured|Pass||
|1.4.4|Ensure access to /etc/issue is configured|Pass||
|1.4.5|Ensure access to /etc/issue.net is configured|Pass||
|2.1.1|Ensure time synchronization is in use|Pass||
|2.1.2|Ensure chrony is configured|Pass||
|2.2.1|Ensure xinetd is not installed|Pass||
|2.2.2|Ensure xorg-x11-server-common is not installed|Pass||
|2.2.3|Ensure avahi is not installed|Pass||
|2.2.4|Ensure a print server is not installed|Pass||
|2.2.5|Ensure a dhcp server is not installed|Pass||
|2.2.6|Ensure a dns server is not installed|Pass||
|2.2.7|Ensure FTP client is not installed|Pass||
|2.2.8|Ensure an ftp server is not installed|Pass||
|2.2.9|Ensure a tftp server is not installed|Pass||
|2.2.10|Ensure a web server is not installed|Pass||
|2.2.11|Ensure IMAP and POP3 server is not installed|Pass||
|2.2.12|Ensure Samba is not installed|Pass||
|2.2.13|Ensure HTTP Proxy Server is not installed|Pass||
|2.2.14|Ensure net-snmp is not installed or the snmpd service is not enabled|Pass||
|2.2.15|Ensure NIS server is not installed|Pass||
|2.2.16|Ensure telnet-server is not installed|Pass||
|2.2.17|Ensure mail transfer agent is configured for local-only mode|Pass||
|2.2.18|Ensure nfs-utils is not installed or the  nfs-server service is masked|Pass||
|2.2.19|Ensure rsync-daemon is not installed or the rsyncd service is masked|Pass||
|2.3.1|Ensure NIS Client is not installed|Pass||
|2.3.2|Ensure rsh client is not installed|Pass||
|2.3.3|Ensure talk client is not installed|Pass||
|2.3.4|Ensure telnet client is not installed|Pass||
|2.3.5|Ensure LDAP client is not installed|Pass||
|2.3.6|Ensure TFTP client is not installed|Pass||
|3.1.1|Ensure packet redirect sending is disabled|Pass||
|3.1.2|Ensure bogus icmp responses are ignored|Pass||
|3.1.3|Ensure broadcast icmp requests are ignored|Pass||
|3.1.4|Ensure icmp redirects are not accepted|Pass||
|3.1.5|Ensure secure icmp redirects are not accepted|Pass||
|3.1.6|Ensure reverse path filtering is enabled|Pass||
|3.1.7|Ensure source routed packets are not accepted|Pass||
|3.1.8|Ensure suspicious packets are logged|Pass||
|3.1.9|Ensure tcp syn cookies is enabled|Pass||
|3.1.10|Ensure ipv6 router advertisements are not accepted|Pass||
|4.1.1|Ensure iptables is installed|Pass||
|4.1.2|Ensure nftables is not in use|Pass||
|4.1.3|Ensure firewalld is not in use|Pass||
|5.1.1|Ensure cron daemon is enabled|Pass||
|5.1.2|Ensure permissions on /etc/crontab are configured|Pass||
|5.1.3|Ensure permissions on /etc/cron.hourly are configured|Pass||
|5.1.4|Ensure permissions on /etc/cron.daily are configured|Pass||
|5.1.5|Ensure permissions on /etc/cron.weekly are configured|Pass||
|5.1.6|Ensure permissions on /etc/cron.monthly are configured|Pass||
|5.1.7|Ensure permissions on /etc/cron.d are configured|Pass||
|5.1.8|Ensure cron is restricted to authorized users|Pass||
|5.1.9|Ensure at is restricted to authorized users|Pass||
|5.2.1|Ensure access to /etc/ssh/sshd_config is configured|Pass||
|5.2.2|Ensure access to SSH private host key files is configured|Pass||
|5.2.3|Ensure access to SSH public host key files is configured|Pass||
|5.2.4|Ensure sshd Ciphers are configured|Pass||
|5.2.5|Ensure sshd KexAlgorithms is configured|Pass||
|5.2.6|Ensure sshd MACs are configured|Pass||
|5.2.7|Ensure sshd access is configured|Pass||
|5.2.8|Ensure sshd Banner is configured|Pass||
|5.2.9|Ensure sshd ClientAliveInterval and ClientAliveCountMax are configured|Pass||
|5.2.10|Ensure sshd HostbasedAuthentication is disabled|Pass||
|5.2.11|Ensure sshd IgnoreRhosts is enabled|Pass||
|5.2.12|Ensure sshd LoginGraceTime is configured|Pass||
|5.2.13|Ensure sshd LogLevel is configured|Pass||
|5.2.14|Ensure sshd MaxAuthTries is configured|Pass||
|5.2.15|Ensure sshd MaxStartups is configured|Pass||
|5.2.16|Ensure sshd MaxSessions is configured|Pass||
|5.2.17|Ensure sshd PermitEmptyPasswords is disabled|Pass||
|5.2.18|Ensure sshd PermitRootLogin is disabled|Pass||
|5.2.19|Ensure sshd PermitUserEnvironment is disabled|Pass||
|5.2.20|Ensure sshd UsePAM is enabled|Pass||
|5.3.1|Ensure sudo is installed|Pass||
|5.3.2|Ensure re-authentication for privilege escalation is not disabled globally|Pass||
|5.3.3|Ensure sudo authentication timeout is configured correctly|Pass||
|5.4.1|Ensure password creation requirements are configured|Pass||
|5.4.2|Ensure lockout for failed password attempts is configured|Pass||
|5.4.3|Ensure password hashing algorithm is SHA-512|Pass||
|5.4.4|Ensure password reuse is limited|Pass||
|5.5.1.1|Ensure password expiration is 365 days or less|Pass||
|5.5.1.2|Ensure minimum days between password changes is configured|Pass||
|5.5.1.3|Ensure password expiration warning days is 7 or more|Pass||
|5.5.1.4|Ensure inactive password lock is 30 days or less|Pass||
|5.5.1.5|Ensure all users last password change date is in the past|Pass||
|5.5.2|Ensure system accounts are secured|Pass||
|5.5.3|Ensure default group for the root account is GID 0|Pass||
|5.5.4|Ensure default user umask is 027 or more restrictive|Pass||
|6.1.1.1.1|Ensure journald service is active|Pass||
|6.1.1.1.2|Ensure journald log file access is configured|N/A||
|6.1.1.1.3|Ensure journald ForwardToSyslog is configured|Pass||
|6.1.1.1.4|Ensure systemd-journal-remote service is not in use|Pass||
|6.1.1.1.5|Ensure journald Storage is configured|Pass||
|6.1.1.1.6|Ensure journald Compress is configured|Pass||
|6.1.2.1|Ensure rsyslog service is enabled and active|Pass||
|6.1.2.2|Ensure rsyslog log file creation mode is configured|Pass||
|6.1.2.3|Ensure rsyslog is not configured to receive logs from a remote client|Pass||
|6.1.3.1|Ensure access to all logfiles has been configured|Pass||
|6.2|Ensure logrotate is configured|N/A||
|7.1.1|Ensure access to /etc/passwd is configured|Pass||
|7.1.2|Ensure access to /etc/passwd- is configured|Pass||
|7.1.3|Ensure access to /etc/group is configured|Pass||
|7.1.4|Ensure access to /etc/group- is configured|Pass||
|7.1.5|Ensure access to /etc/shadow is configured|Pass||
|7.1.6|Ensure access to /etc/shadow- is configured|Pass||
|7.1.7|Ensure access to /etc/gshadow is configured|Pass||
|7.1.8|Ensure access to /etc/gshadow- is configured|Pass||
|7.1.9|Ensure access to /etc/shells is configured|Pass||
|7.1.10|Ensure access to /etc/security/opasswd is configured|Pass||
|7.1.11|Ensure world writable files and directories are secured|Pass||
|7.1.12|Ensure no files or directories without an owner and a group exist|Pass||
|7.2.1|Ensure accounts in /etc/passwd use shadowed passwords|Pass||
|7.2.2|Ensure /etc/shadow password fields are not empty|Pass||
|7.2.3|Ensure all groups in /etc/passwd exist in /etc/group|Pass||
|7.2.4|Ensure no duplicate UIDs exist|Pass||
|7.2.5|Ensure no duplicate GIDs exist|Pass||
|7.2.6|Ensure no duplicate user names exist|Pass||
|7.2.7|Ensure no duplicate group names exist|Pass||
|7.2.8|Ensure local interactive user home directories are configured|Pass||
|7.2.9|Ensure local interactive user dot files access is configured|Pass||

## Next steps

For more information about Azure Linux Container Host security, see the following articles:

* [Azure Linux Container Host for AKS][linux-container-host-aks]
* [Security concepts for clusters in AKS][security-concepts-aks]

<!-- EXTERNAL LINKS -->
[cis-benchmark-azure-linux]: https://www.cisecurity.org/benchmark/azure_linux

<!-- INTERNAL LINKS -->
[security-concepts-aks]: concepts-security.md
[cis-benchmarks]: /compliance/regulatory/offering-CIS-Benchmark
[linux-security-baseline]: /azure/governance/policy/samples/guest-configuration-baseline-linux
[linux-container-host-aks]: /azure/azure-linux/intro-azure-linux
