Title

Default operating system accounts, other than root, must be locked. (Cat II impact)

Discussion

Disabling authentication for default system accounts makes it more difficult for attackers to make use of them to compromise a system.

Check Content

To obtain a listing of all users and the contents of their shadow password field, run the command: $ awk -F: '$1 !~ /^root$/ && $2 !~ /^[!*]/ {print $1 ":" $2}' /etc/shadow Identify the operating system accounts from this listing. These will primarily be the accounts with UID numbers less than 500, other than root. If any default operating system account (other than root) has a valid password hash, this is a finding.

Fix Text

Some accounts are not associated with a human user of the system, and exist to perform some administrative function. An attacker should not be able to log into these accounts. Disable logon access to these accounts with the command: # passwd -l [SYSACCT]

Additional Identifiers

Rule ID: SV-217867r603264_rule

Vulnerability ID: V-217867

Group Title: SRG-OS-000480

Expert Comments

CCIs tied to check.

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