Securing CentOS With Unattended Yum-Cron Security Updates

to do unattended security upgrades on CentOS, yum-cron can be used.

install yum-cron:

sudo yum install yum-cron

configure yum-cron and update the following:

update_cmd = security apply_updates = yes

start and enable yum-cron service:

sudo systemctl start yum-cron sudo systemctl enable yum-cron

if, in case you have problem installing because of conflicting files from yum-cron and yum installations, with a similar message as below:

do a yum update then try installing yum-cron again:
sudo yum update

sudo yum install yum-cron

(src: https://serversforhackers.com/c/automatic-security-updates-centos)

linux: centos download rpm packages from yum

installing services via yum doesn't secure me a copy of the packages i need to do similar setups on a box that is not online. one solution is to save rpm packages downloaded by yum. to do that you'll need yum-downloadonly package

# yum install yum-downloadonly

then to save the rpms, do:

# yum install <package> -y --downloadonly

note: you should have the packages uninstalled before yum can download them