Title

The AIX /etc/hosts file must be group-owned by system. (Cat II impact)

Discussion

Unauthorized group ownership of the /etc/hosts file can lead to the ability for a malicious actor to redirect traffic to servers of their choice. It is also possible to use the /etc/hosts file to block detection by security software by blocking the traffic to all the download or update servers of well-known security vendors.

Check Content

Check the group ownership of /etc/hosts using command: # ls -al /etc/hosts The above command should yield the following output: -rw-r----- 1 root system 993 Mar 11 07:04 /etc/hosts If the file is not group-owned by system, this is a finding.

Fix Text

Change the group ownership of the file to system using command: # chgrp system /etc/hosts

Additional Identifiers

Rule ID: SV-245558r991589_rule

Vulnerability ID: V-245558

Group Title: SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227

Expert Comments

CCIs tied to check.

Controls tied to check. These are derived from the CCIs shown above.