Title

The .rhosts, .shosts, hosts.equiv, shosts.equiv, /etc/passwd, /etc/shadow, and/or /etc/group files must not contain a plus (+) without defining entries for NIS+ netgroups. (Cat II impact)

Discussion

A plus (+) in system accounts files causes the system to lookup the specified entry using NIS. If the system is not using NIS, no such entries should exist.

Check Content

Check system configuration files for plus (+) entries. Procedure: # find / -name .rhosts # grep + /<directorylocation>/.rhosts # find / -name .shosts # grep + /<directorylocation>/.shosts # find / -name hosts.equiv # grep + /<directorylocation>/hosts.equiv # find / -name shosts.equiv # grep + /<directorylocation>/shosts.equiv # grep + /etc/passwd # grep + /etc/shadow # grep + /etc/group If the .rhosts, .shosts, hosts.equiv, shosts.equiv, /etc/passwd, /etc/shadow, and/or /etc/group files contain a plus (+) and do not define entries for NIS+ netgroups, this is a finding.

Fix Text

Edit the .rhosts, .shosts, hosts.equiv, shosts.equiv, /etc/passwd, /etc/shadow, and/or /etc/group files and remove entries containing a plus (+).

Additional Identifiers

Rule ID: SV-45164r1_rule

Vulnerability ID: V-11987

Group Title: GEN001980

Expert Comments

CCIs tied to check.

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