Title

All global initialization files must be group-owned by root, sys, bin, other, system, or the system default. (Cat II impact)

Discussion

Global initialization files are used to configure the user's shell environment upon login. Malicious modification of these files could compromise accounts upon logon. Failure to give ownership of sensitive files or utilities to root or bin provides the designated owner and unauthorized users with the potential to access sensitive information or change the system configuration which could weaken the system's security posture.

Check Content

Check the group ownership of global initialization files. Procedure: # ls -lL /etc/bashrc /etc/csh.cshrc /etc/csh.login /etc/environment /etc/ksh.kshrc /etc/profile /etc/profile.d/* /etc/zshrc This should show information for each file. Examine to ensure the group is always root or: # ls -lL /etc/bashrc /etc/csh.cshrc /etc/csh.login /etc/environment /etc/ksh.kshrc /etc/profile /etc/profile.d/* /etc/zshrc 2>/dev/null|sed "s/^[^\/]*//"|xargs stat -L -c %G:%n|egrep -v "^(root|sys|bin|other):" will show you only the group and filename of files not owned by one of the approved groups. If any global initialization file is not group-owned by root, sys, bin, other, system, or the system default, this is a finding.

Fix Text

Change the group ownership of the global initialization file(s) with incorrect group ownership. Procedure: # chgrp root <global initialization file> or: # ls -lL /etc/bashrc /etc/csh.cshrc /etc/csh.login /etc/environment /etc/ksh.kshrc /etc/profile /etc/profile.d/* /etc/zshrc 2>/dev/null|sed "s/^[^\/]*//"|xargs stat -L -c %G:%n|egrep -v "^(root|sys|bin|other):"|cut -d: -f2|xargs chgrp root will set the group of all files not currently owned by an approved group to root.

Additional Identifiers

Rule ID: SV-45105r1_rule

Vulnerability ID: V-11983

Group Title: GEN001760

Expert Comments

CCIs tied to check.

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