Title

The root account must not have world-writable directories in its executable search path. (Cat II impact)

Discussion

If the root search path contains a world-writable directory, malicious software could be placed in the path by intruders and/or malicious users and inadvertently run by root with all of root's privileges.

Check Content

Check for world-writable permissions on all directories in the root user's executable search path. Procedure: # ls -ld `echo $PATH | sed "s/:/ /g"` If any of the directories in the PATH variable are world-writable, this is a finding.

Fix Text

For each world-writable path in root's executable search path, perform one of the following. 1. Remove the world-writable permission on the directory. Procedure: # chmod o-w <path> 2. Remove the world-writable directory from the executable search path. Procedure: Identify and edit the initialization file referencing the world-writable directory and remove it from the PATH variable.

Additional Identifiers

Rule ID: SV-777r2_rule

Vulnerability ID: V-777

Group Title: GEN000960

Expert Comments

CCIs tied to check.

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