Everyone who uses linux might be familiar with SELinux. The full form of SELinux is Security-Enhanced Linux. It is a kernel level security module that enhances the access level security policies.

In this post I will be quickly explaining about the various modes in SELinux.

There are three modes in SELinux

  • Enforcing
  • Permissive
  • Disabled

In CentOS and RHEL systems , the SELinux configurations are controlled using the configuration file /etc/sysconfig/selinux.

The changes made to this file needs a system reboot. We can disable the SELinux permanently only with a system reboot. But we can set the SELinux into permissive mode without reboot. This can be easily performed by issuing a setenforce command. The details are explained in my another blog post.

Here we can set SELinux to any of the modes mentioned above.

In the Enforcing mode, SELinux is completely active and it will allow access only using the SELinux policies. User can configure the policies to enable access to their application.

In the Permissive mode, the SELinux will be monitoring and logging all the activities that would have been denied if it is in the enforcing state. The SELinux will not block any activities in this state.

In the Disabled mode, SELinux will be completely disabled.

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