documentation_complete: true

title: Prefer to use a 64-bit Operating System when supported

description: |-
  Prefer installation of 64-bit operating systems when the CPU supports it.

rationale: |-
  Use of a 64-bit operating system offers a few advantages, like a larger address space range for
  Address Space Layout Randomization (ASLR) and systematic presence of No eXecute and Execute Disable (NX/XD) protection bits.

warnings:
    - general: |-
        There is no remediation besides installing a 64-bit operating system.

severity: medium

identifiers:
  cce@rhel8: CCE-83694-0
  cce@rhel9: CCE-90839-2
  cce@rhel10: CCE-90578-6
  cce@sle12: CCE-91504-1
  cce@sle15: CCE-91195-8

ocil_clause: the installed operating system is 32-bit but the CPU supports operation in 64-bit

ocil: |-
  To check if the installed Operating System is 64-bit, run the following command:
  <pre>$ uname -m</pre>
  The output should be one of the following: <tt>x86_64</tt>, <tt>aarch64</tt>, <tt>ppc64le</tt> or <tt>s390x</tt>.
  If the output is <tt>i686</tt> or <tt>i386</tt> the operating system is 32-bit.
  Check if the installed CPU supports 64-bit operating systems by running the following command:
  <pre>$ lscpu | grep "CPU op-mode"</pre>
  If the output contains <tt>64bit</tt>, the CPU supports 64-bit operating systems.
