Title

All global initialization files' executable search paths must contain only absolute paths. (Cat II impact)

Discussion

The executable search path (typically the PATH environment variable) contains a list of directories for the shell to search to find executables. If this path includes the current working directory or other relative paths, executables in these directories may be executed instead of system commands. This variable is formatted as a colon-separated list of directories. If there is an empty entry, such as a leading or trailing colon, or two consecutive colons, this is interpreted as the current working directory. Paths starting with a slash (/) are absolute paths.

Check Content

Check the global initialization files' executable search paths. # grep PATH /etc/profile /etc/bashrc /etc/csh.login /etc/csh.cshrc /etc/environment /etc/.login This variable is formatted as a colon-separated list of directories. If there is an empty entry, such as a leading or trailing colon, or two consecutive colons, this is a finding. If an entry begins with a character other than a slash (/), this is a relative path, and this is a finding.

Fix Text

Edit the global initialization file(s) with PATH variables containing relative paths. Edit the file and remove the relative path from the PATH variable.

Additional Identifiers

Rule ID: SV-38270r1_rule

Vulnerability ID: V-11985

Group Title: GEN001840

Expert Comments

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