CHECKSEC(1)                 General Commands Manual                CHECKSEC(1)

NAME
     checksec - check executable and kernel security properties

SYNOPSIS
     checksec [--help] [--version] [--output table|xml|json|yaml]
              [--libc path] [--no-banner] [--no-headers] [--no-warnings]
              [--color auto|always|never] command [command-options]

DESCRIPTION
     checksec is a Go implementation of the checksec utility. It inspects ELF
     binaries and the running kernel for common hardening features such as
     RELRO, NX, PIE, RPATH/RUNPATH, stack canaries, Clang CFI hints, and
     fortify-able libc usage. Results can be printed as a table or serialized
     for machine consumption.

GLOBAL OPTIONS
     -h, --help
             Display help and exit.

     -v, --version
             Show version and exit.

     -o, --output=table|xml|json|yaml
             Set output format. Default is table.

     -l, --libc=path
             Set libc location (useful for fortify checks on offline/embedded
             filesystems).

     --no-banner
             Disable the startup banner.

     --no-headers
             Disable table headers.

     --no-warnings
             Suppress warning messages (e.g., missing libc, unreadable symbol
             tables).

     --color=auto|always|never
             Control color output. Default is auto (color when writing to a
             terminal).  Use always to preserve color through pipes.

COMMANDS
     file path
             Inspect a single ELF file.

     dir directory
             Inspect all ELF files in a directory. Use -r, --recursive to
             recurse into subdirectories.

     fortifyFile path
             Report fortified/fortifiable libc calls in a file.

     fortifyProc pid
             Report fortified/fortifiable libc calls for a running process ID.

     kernel [config]
             Inspect kernel hardening via /proc/config.gz ,
             /boot/config-<release> , or a supplied config path.

     proc pid
             Inspect the executable of a running process ID.

     procAll
             Inspect all running processes. Kernel threads and processes
             without readable /proc/<pid>/exe are skipped.

COMPATIBILITY NOTES
     o   The legacy v2/bash options such as --file, --dir, and --proc-all are
         not the primary v3 interface.

     o   Use v3 subcommands instead (for example, checksec file /path/to/bin
         or checksec procAll).

     o   If you want compact output similar to older invocations, use
         --no-banner (and optionally --no-headers).

EXAMPLES
             checksec file /bin/ls

             checksec --no-banner --no-warnings file /bin/ls

             checksec --color=always file /bin/ls | grep RELRO

             checksec --output json dir /usr/bin

             checksec dir /usr/bin --recursive

             checksec proc 1

             checksec kernel

             checksec kernel /path/to/config

DIAGNOSTICS
     Most commands exit non-zero on fatal errors (e.g., unreadable files). The
     procAll command skips processes it cannot read and continues.

SEE ALSO
     hardening-check(1), feature_test_macros(7), gcc(1), ld(1)

HISTORY
     checksec was originally written by Tobias Klein.  The current project is
     maintained by Brian Davis <slimm609@gmail.com>.

Linux 6.12.107+deb13-amd64       February 2026      Linux 6.12.107+deb13-amd64