SELinux Boolean Not Persisting Across Reboot

📖 ~1 min read

Table of contents

1. Symptom & Impact
2. Environment & Reproduction
3. Root Cause Analysis
4. Quick Triage
5. Step-by-Step Diagnosis
6. Solution – Primary Fix
7. Solution – Alternative Approaches
8. Verification & Acceptance Criteria
9. Rollback Plan
10. Prevention & Hardening
11. Related Errors & Cross-Refs
12. References & Further Reading

Symptom & Impact

Behavior works temporarily after setsebool but breaks after reboot.

Environment & Reproduction

Run getsebool -a | grep target_boolean before and after reboot.

Root Cause Analysis

Check if only one boolean resets or if local policy store is damaged.

Quick Triage

Boolean was set without persistence flag or conflicting automation reverted it.

Step-by-Step Diagnosis

Apply with setsebool -P on and document intended state.

Solution – Primary Fix

Audit config management to prevent unwanted boolean overrides.

Solution – Alternative Approaches

Restart related service with systemctl and verify expected permissions.

Verification & Acceptance Criteria

Confirm service reachability with firewalld rules unchanged.

Rollback Plan

Keep SELinux enforcing and track booleans as managed configuration.

Prevention & Hardening

Use ausearch and journalctl to ensure AVC denials are resolved.

Related Errors & Cross-Refs

Store SELinux boolean baselines in provisioning and compliance checks.

Related tutorial: View the step-by-step tutorial for rhel-9.

View all rhel-9 tutorials on the Tutorials Hub →

Browse all common problems & solutions on the Tutorials Hub.

References & Further Reading

Return boolean to previous persistent value with setsebool -P.