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

Overview

Finding ID	Version	Rule ID	IA Controls	Severity
V-11983	GEN001760	SV-37285r1_rule	ECLP-1	Medium

Description
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.

Description

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.

STIG	Date
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 Security Technical Implementation Guide	2013-04-10

Details

Check Text ( C-35979r1_chk )
Check the group ownership of global initialization files. Procedure: # ls -lL etc/bashrc /etc/csh.cshrc /etc/csh.login /etc/csh.logout /etc/environment /etc/ksh.kshrc /etc/profile /etc/suid_profile /etc/profile.d/* 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/csh.logout /etc/environment /etc/ksh.kshrc /etc/profile /etc/suid_profile /etc/profile.d/* 2>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.

Check Text ( C-35979r1_chk )

Check the group ownership of global initialization files.

Procedure:
# ls -lL etc/bashrc /etc/csh.cshrc /etc/csh.login /etc/csh.logout /etc/environment /etc/ksh.kshrc /etc/profile /etc/suid_profile /etc/profile.d/*

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/csh.logout /etc/environment /etc/ksh.kshrc /etc/profile /etc/suid_profile /etc/profile.d/* 2>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 (F-31232r1_fix)
Change the group ownership of the global initialization file(s) with incorrect group ownership. Procedure: # chgrp root or: # ls -lL /etc/bashrc /etc/csh.cshrc /etc/csh.login /etc/csh.logout /etc/environment /etc/ksh.kshrc /etc/profile /etc/suid_profile /etc/profile.d/* 2>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.

Fix Text (F-31232r1_fix)

Change the group ownership of the global initialization file(s) with incorrect group ownership.

Procedure:
# chgrp root
or:
# ls -lL /etc/bashrc /etc/csh.cshrc /etc/csh.login /etc/csh.logout /etc/environment /etc/ksh.kshrc /etc/profile /etc/suid_profile /etc/profile.d/* 2>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.