Title

All .rhosts, .shosts, .netrc, or hosts.equiv files must be accessible by only root or the owner. (Cat II impact)

Discussion

If these files are accessible by users other than root or the owner, they could be used by a malicious user to set up a system compromise.

Check Content

Procedure: # ls -l /etc/hosts.equiv # ls -l /etc/ssh/shosts.equiv # find / -name .rhosts # ls -al <home directory>/.rhosts # find / -name .shosts # ls -al <home directory>/.shosts # find / -name .netrc # ls -al <home directory>/.netrc If the .rhosts, .shosts, hosts.equiv, or shosts.equiv files have permissions greater than 600, then this is a finding. If the /etc/hosts.equiv, or /etc/ssh/shosts.equiv files are not owned by root, this is a finding. Any .rhosts, .shosts and .netrc files outside of home directories have no meaning and are not subject to this rule If the ~/.rhosts or ~/.shosts are not owned by the owner of the home directory where they are immediately located or by root, this is a finding.

Fix Text

Ensure the permission for these files is set to 600 or more restrictive and their owner is root or the same as the owner of the home directory in which they reside. Procedure: # chmod 600 /etc/hosts.equiv # chmod 600 /etc/ssh/shosts.equiv # chown root /etc/hosts.equiv # chown root /etc/ssh/shosts.equiv # find / -name .rhosts # chmod 600 /<home directory>/.rhosts # chown <home directory owner> <home directory>/.rhosts # find / -name .shosts # chmod 600 <directory location>/.shosts # chown <home directory owner> <home directory>/.shosts # find / -name .netrc # chmod 600 <directory location>/.netrc # chown <home directory owner> <home directory>/.netrc

Additional Identifiers

Rule ID: SV-45168r1_rule

Vulnerability ID: V-4428

Group Title: GEN002060

Expert Comments

CCIs tied to check.

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