Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 • Release: 7 Benchmark Date: 05 Jan 2026
CAT II V-258031 RHEL-09-271105
RHEL 9 must disable the ability of a user to accidentally press Ctrl-Alt-Del and cause a system to shut down or reboot.
Discussion
A locally logged-in user who presses Ctrl-Alt-Del, when at the console, can reboot the system. If accidentally pressed, as could happen in the case of mixed OS environment, this can create the risk of short-term loss of availability of systems due to unintentional reboot.
Check Procedure
Verify RHEL 9 is configured to ignore the Ctrl-Alt-Del sequence in the GNOME desktop with the following command: Note: This requirement assumes the use of the RHEL 9 default graphical user interface, the GNOME desktop environment. If the system does not have any graphical user interface installed, this requirement is not applicable. $ gsettings get org.gnome.settings-daemon.plugins.media-keys logout [''] If the GNOME desktop is configured to shut down when Ctrl-Alt-Del is pressed, this is a finding.
Fix Action
Configure RHEL 9 to ignore the Ctrl-Alt-Del sequence in the GNOME desktop. Run the following command to set the media-keys logout setting: $ gsettings set org.gnome.settings-daemon.plugins.media-keys logout "['']" Run the following command to update the database: $ sudo dconf update