Does SELinux make Redhat more secure?

Question

Does SELinux make Redhat more secure?

I can't remember the number of times when I have disabled SELinux because it kept frustrating my ability to get stuff running. Lots of times to there was no obvious reason why stuff wasn't working and I had to Google to discover why.

Given that most casual users will disable or weaken security when it appears to get in the way, with the exclusion of serious, enterprisey Redhat users, is SELinux really useful?

PS. Is there some tool that helps you log, track and manage SELinux issues across all applications?

In spite of being an Ubuntu user I am a closet Fedora fan.

Answer 1

Yes, Selinux makes system more secure. But you'll need to undestand concepts of it and have at least basic knowledge about selinux and audit tools.

Selinux is logging to /var/log/audit/audit.log (but ensure auditd is running), and there are number of tools to solve selinux problems. Probably simplest way is to use is audit2allow

Answer 2

I think SELinux just extends traditional permissions system by introducing extended settings over permissions. Does it make your system more secured? I think it depends on how you use SELinux in your applications. Also I'm not good in SELinux but configuring it needs more knowledge over what limitations it can provide you. But it also introduces many problems that you need to manually investigate to overcome

Answer 3

There is a package that helps users find problems caused by SELinux named setroubleshoot. Install it, set it to run at start. Then when you get an SELinux denial, it will be noted in /var/log/messages. If you're logged into the GUI as well, you'll get a notification.