How to verify if NX/XD is Enabled or Disabled in CentOS/RHEL 7 and 8

NX stands for No eXecute and XD stand for eXecute Disable is a technology used in processors to prevent the execution of certain types of code. NX/XD is a hardware cpu feature which is provided in almost all the hardware. Some BIOS has an advanced option of enabling or disabling it. This post will help to check NX/XD the feature is enabled or disabled.

Use the following command to check the status of NX/XD from the OS level.

For example:

1. From dmesg command:

# dmesg | grep "Execute Disable"
[ 0.000000] NX (Execute Disable) protection: active

2. From journaltcl command:

# journalctl -b | grep 'Execute Disable'
Dec 31 14:30:23  kernel: NX (Execute Disable) protection: active

Note: It is a hardware feature and available in almost all the hardware, some of the hardware has this feature Enable/Disable in BIOS itself. But it is not recommended to Disable this feature.

Conclusion

NX stands for No eXecute and XD stands for eXecute Disable. Both are the same and are a technology used in processors to prevent the execution of certain types of code. You can also use /var/log/messages file and dmesg command to check if this feature is enabled.

For example:

# cat /var/log/messages | grep "Execute Disable"
[ 0.000000] NX (Execute Disable) protection: active

# dmesg | grep "Execute Disable"
[    0.000000] NX (Execute Disable) protection: active

Conclusion

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