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1Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute2Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors3Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesSandbox a VPS service by hardening its systemd unit, not by changing the whole server. Start with a dedicated non-root identity and NoNewPrivileges=yes, make the filesystem read-only with ProtectSystem=strict, expose only required state directories, then restrict devices, kernel interfaces, capabilities, network families and (last) system calls. Apply each control in a drop-in, test the daemon, and keep an immediate rollback path.
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What systemd sandboxing isolates—and what it does not
systemd sandboxing is a per-unit least-privilege configuration. The service manager starts one daemon with a selected identity, mount view, device view, namespace setup, capability set and address-family allow-list. A compromised process still runs on the VPS, but it has fewer useful paths to read secrets, alter the host filesystem, load kernel code, manipulate cgroups or reach unrelated network endpoints.
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This is not a universal security boundary. Controls depend on the running kernel, systemd version, virtualization layer and whether the unit is a system service or a user service. Namespace features can be unavailable inside an unprivileged VPS container. Read-only mounts do not stop communication with Unix sockets located in those directories, and ProtectHome= does not cover home directories stored in non-standard locations. Treat the unit as one layer in a defense-in-depth design, not as a replacement for patching, authentication, host access control or a stronger VM boundary.
Inventory the daemon before tightening it
Hardening succeeds when every exception is intentional. Record the daemon’s actual behavior while it is healthy, preferably in a maintenance window or staging VPS.
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- Identify the unit and its package-owned file with
systemctl cat name.service. Do not edit that vendor file; package upgrades can overwrite it. - Record the current user, group, supplementary groups, listening ports, outbound connections and Unix sockets.
- List persistent data, cache, runtime and log paths. Distinguish files that must survive a restart from temporary files.
- Note required device nodes, helper programs, interpreters, plugins and external credentials.
- Capture a known-good health check, startup command and shutdown behavior so a restriction failure is obvious.
For a service that writes only its own state and logs, the target should be two narrow directories rather than a broad writable tree. If a runtime writes dynamically discovered files elsewhere, find that path before enabling a read-only root.
Create a drop-in instead of replacing the vendor unit
- Open a drop-in:
sudo systemctl edit name.service. The editor creates an override under systemd’s configuration hierarchy while preserving the package unit. - Copy only the settings you intend to override. Keep a dated copy of the drop-in in your change-management system so rollback is a single, documented action.
- Reload unit definitions with
sudo systemctl daemon-reload. A reload is required before systemd sees changed unit metadata. - Restart during a maintenance window:
sudo systemctl restart name.service. Checksystemctl status name.service,journalctl -u name.serviceand the application’s own health endpoint. - If startup or normal operation fails, remove the newest restriction first, reload and restart, then identify the denied path, device, capability, address family or syscall. Replace a broad permission with the narrowest exception that fixes the observed failure.
Use systemctl revert name.service when you need to remove all drop-ins for that unit and return to the vendor definition. Verify what remains with systemctl cat name.service before declaring the rollback complete.
A practical baseline drop-in
This pattern is a starting point, not a copy-and-forget policy. Replace the account, paths and address families with values proven necessary by the application.
[Service]
User=app
Group=app
NoNewPrivileges=yes
PrivateTmp=yes
ProtectSystem=strict
ProtectHome=read-only
PrivateDevices=yes
ProtectKernelTunables=yes
ProtectKernelModules=yes
ProtectControlGroups=yes
RestrictAddressFamilies=AF_UNIX AF_INET AF_INET6
CapabilityBoundingSet=
ReadWritePaths=/var/lib/app /var/log/appCapabilityBoundingSet= with an empty value drops all Linux capabilities from the unit. If the daemon genuinely needs one, list only that named capability instead of retaining the full set. A service with no network sockets should use RestrictAddressFamilies=none; do not grant IPv4 or IPv6 merely because the host supports them.
Set identity and privilege first
User= and Group=
Run the process as a dedicated account such as app, not as root and not as a shared login account. The account should own only the data it must modify. Set a primary group explicitly when group ownership affects logs, sockets or shared state. Moving an existing daemon off root can expose hidden assumptions: privileged ports, root-owned files, setuid helpers and directories created during package installation all need deliberate treatment.
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DynamicUser=yes
DynamicUser=yes asks systemd to allocate a transient identity and implies stronger filesystem protections. It is useful when the service does not need a stable numeric owner outside the unit. Do not use it when backups, another service or an administrator must refer to files by a persistent UID, or when external access depends on stable ownership. Pair it with systemd-managed state directories where possible.
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This prevents the service and its children from gaining additional privilege through execve. It blocks a major class of escalation attempts while leaving ordinary operation under the selected user and capability set. It can expose software that expects a setuid helper or a privilege-changing launcher; test those paths rather than removing the setting reflexively.
CapabilityBoundingSet=
Linux capabilities split portions of root authority. An empty bounding set is the safest default for a normal application. If a daemon must bind a low port, change a clock, or perform another privileged operation, retain only the documented capability it needs and test upgrades and helper processes. A capability retained in the bounding set is still not automatically granted; the service must also receive it through the unit’s effective capability configuration or its launcher.
Make the filesystem read-only while declaring writable state
ProtectSystem=strict
ProtectSystem=strict mounts the filesystem hierarchy read-only except for API filesystems. It is a high-value control against tampering with binaries, libraries, configuration and unrelated application data. A daemon that writes outside its declared state will fail with a permission error, which is the intended signal that its write set is too broad or undocumented.
ReadWritePaths=
Grant only the directories the process must modify, for example ReadWritePaths=/var/lib/app /var/log/app. Prefer a service-specific directory over /var, /opt or the entire root filesystem. Keep temporary runtime files separate from persistent state so a compromise cannot rewrite more data than necessary.
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StateDirectory= and LogsDirectory=
When the application layout permits it, use StateDirectory=app and LogsDirectory=app. systemd creates and tracks these directories and treats them as documented exceptions to ProtectSystem restrictions. This avoids hand-maintained directory creation and makes ownership and lifecycle clearer. Confirm the resulting locations and permissions with the unit’s status and filesystem inspection before moving existing data.
ProtectHome=
ProtectHome=yes hides /home, /root and /run/user. Use read-only only when the daemon truly needs to read user data; it still prevents writes to those standard locations. tmpfs presents an empty temporary view. None of these modes covers a custom home path elsewhere on the VPS, so protect or remove such paths separately.
PrivateTmp=yes
This gives the unit private /tmp and /var/tmp, preventing accidental file collisions with unrelated services. It does not isolate every form of inter-process communication: Unix sockets in other directories remain potential communication points, and a shared network or writable directory can still provide a channel. Keep socket directories and shared queues explicitly scoped.
Reduce devices and kernel control
PrivateDevices=yes
PrivateDevices=yes supplies a reduced device view and blocks routine access to the host’s hardware device nodes. It is appropriate for web servers, workers and most application daemons. Database engines with direct storage access, hardware-backed services and workloads using a specific accelerator may need an explicit device exception; document that exception rather than disabling the control globally.
Kernel and cgroup protections
Enable ProtectKernelTunables=yes to stop ordinary services from changing kernel tuning interfaces, ProtectKernelModules=yes to prevent module loading or removal, and ProtectControlGroups=yes to prevent modification of cgroup hierarchies. These settings are especially valuable for network-facing daemons because a compromised process should not be able to turn a service-level breach into host-wide kernel or resource-control changes. Software that manages containers, performance counters or its own cgroups may require a narrowly reviewed exception.
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Allow only the network families the service needs
RestrictAddressFamilies= is an allow-list for socket families, not a port firewall. A typical network daemon needs AF_UNIX AF_INET AF_INET6: Unix sockets for local coordination and IPv4/IPv6 for clients or upstreams. A local-only worker may need only AF_UNIX. A batch process with no sockets should use RestrictAddressFamilies=none.
This setting does not limit which IP addresses or ports are reachable. Continue using host firewall rules, application authentication and egress controls for that job. Test DNS behavior, because a resolver may use IPv4, IPv6 or a Unix socket depending on the system’s resolver setup. Also test monitoring agents and sidecars that connect through a Unix socket; the family allow-list can break them even when the main workload appears local.
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SystemCallFilter= can sharply reduce the kernel attack surface, but it is the easiest hardening control to make a legitimate service unusable. Interpreters, language virtual machines, JITs, plugins, database drivers and helper binaries often issue calls that are not obvious from the main executable.
Begin with identity, privilege, filesystem, device and address-family controls. Observe normal startup, requests, scheduled jobs, upgrades and error paths. Then introduce a documented syscall policy in a staging environment, exercise every feature, and inspect journal errors for blocked operations. Add the smallest exception that restores a required feature. Do not copy a restrictive profile from another daemon simply because both are written in the same language; their syscall behavior can differ substantially.
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- Baseline: confirm the service is healthy and record its ports, paths, devices, helpers and logs.
- Identity: set
User=,Group=,NoNewPrivileges=yesand a minimal capability set. - Filesystem: enable
ProtectSystem=strictandProtectHome=; addReadWritePaths=,StateDirectory=orLogsDirectory=for every required write. - Temporary and device views: enable
PrivateTmp=yesandPrivateDevices=yes, then test uploads, caches, hardware access and local sockets. - Kernel controls: enable the three kernel and cgroup protections unless the workload has a documented management requirement.
- Network families: allow only the families observed in normal operation. Remove unused IPv4, IPv6 or Unix-socket access.
- Syscalls: add
SystemCallFilter=last, with feature-complete compatibility tests and a written exception process. - Observe: reload, restart, inspect status and journal output, call the health endpoint, and run representative traffic before closing the change.
Apply one logical group at a time. If several restrictions change together, a single failure message cannot tell you which assumption was wrong.
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Troubleshoot a service that will not start
Permission denied on a file or directory
Find the exact path in journalctl -u name.service and the application’s logs. If it is persistent state, move it under a service directory and add that directory to ReadWritePaths=, or use StateDirectory=. If it only needs to read configuration or a certificate, keep the root read-only and grant a read-only bind path rather than making the parent tree writable.
Cannot bind, connect or resolve
Check the address family first. A service that listens on IPv6 but has only AF_INET allowed will fail even though its port and firewall rule are correct. Add AF_UNIX for a local socket or the required Internet family, then verify that host firewall and application policy still limit destinations.
Helper or plugin fails
Check whether the helper expects a capability, a device node, a writable temporary path or a syscall that the main process does not use. Grant the narrow resource, not a blanket removal of all sandboxing. If the helper is optional, disable that feature instead.
Controls appear to have no effect
Confirm the effective unit with systemctl show name.service and systemd-analyze security name.service where available. Verify that the service is managed by the system instance you edited, rather than a user unit or a container supervisor. Namespace-based settings can be unavailable when the VPS kernel or container manager does not provide the needed mechanism.
Know the VPS and kernel limits
A full virtual machine generally exposes more kernel mechanisms than an unprivileged container. On a containerized VPS, systemd may be unable to create namespaces, mount private views or change cgroup settings; a directive can therefore be ignored, rejected or provide less isolation than its name suggests. Check the unit’s effective properties and system logs on the actual hosting platform.
Kernel and systemd upgrades can change defaults, available namespace features and application behavior. Re-test after upgrading the operating system, systemd package or daemon. A policy that worked on one VPS image is not automatically portable to another image with a different kernel configuration.
systemd sandboxing versus a container or VM
| Boundary | Isolation strength | Application compatibility | Operational complexity | Control granularity | Typical overhead |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| systemd unit sandbox | Service-level; depends on kernel and host configuration | Usually highest because the process keeps the host runtime and files it genuinely needs | Low: a drop-in, reload and service-specific testing | Fine-grained filesystem, device, capability, kernel, network-family and syscall controls | Usually the lightest change because no separate guest environment is introduced |
| Container | Broader process and filesystem boundary, still sharing the host kernel | May require image, namespace, storage and networking changes | Medium: image lifecycle, orchestration, logging and resource policy | Strong namespace and resource controls, but often less integrated with an existing host unit | Additional image and runtime layers |
| Virtual machine | Strongest separation of the three when correctly configured | Highest freedom to choose a guest kernel and userspace | Highest: guest patching, boot, networking, storage and monitoring | Broad guest boundary rather than per-process exceptions | More memory, storage and administration overhead |
Choose systemd hardening when one or more host services need tighter least privilege without changing deployment architecture. Choose a container or VM when the workload needs a broader boundary, conflicting system dependencies, an independent kernel policy or separation from a sensitive host. A container is not automatically safer than a carefully restricted unit, and a VM still needs its own service hardening.
Maintenance checklist for a hardened unit
- Keep the drop-in under version control and record why every exception exists.
- Review new files, plugins, helper binaries and ports after each package upgrade.
- Re-run health checks for startup, normal traffic, scheduled jobs, backups and graceful shutdown.
- Watch journal messages for denied paths or operations, but do not turn off a control solely to silence a warning.
- Reconfirm effective settings after changing the VPS image, kernel, systemd version or service manager context.
- Retire temporary exceptions once the application is fixed or its feature is removed.
- Keep a tested rollback: remove the drop-in, run
systemctl daemon-reload, restart the service and verify the vendor unit.
The practical boundary is the service’s declared runtime. A dedicated identity and NoNewPrivileges=yes remove major escalation paths; read-only filesystem and home protections prevent broad data access; device, kernel, capability, network-family and syscall controls close additional paths when the daemon can tolerate them. The safest policy is the strongest one the measured workload can run reliably, with every writable path and exception named explicitly.
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