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User start-up files must not execute world-writable programs.


Overview

Finding ID Version Rule ID IA Controls Severity
V-4087 GEN001940 SV-37433r1_rule DCSW-1 Medium
Description
If start-up files execute world-writable programs, especially in unprotected directories, they could be maliciously modified to become trojans that destroy user files or otherwise compromise the system at the user, or higher, level. If the system is compromised at the user level, it is much easier to eventually compromise the system at the root and network level.
STIG Date
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 Security Technical Implementation Guide 2014-04-02

Details

Check Text ( C-36012r3_chk )
Check local initialization files for any executed world-writable programs or scripts and scripts executing from world writable directories.

Procedure:
For each home directory on the system make a list of files referenced within any local initialization script.
Show the mode for each file and its parent directory.

# FILES=".bashrc .bash_login .bash_logout .bash_profile .cshrc .kshrc .login .logout .profile .tcshrc .env .dtprofile .dispatch .emacs .exrc";

# for HOMEDIR in `cut -d: -f6 /etc/passwd|sort|uniq`;do for INIFILE in $FILES;do REFLIST=`egrep " [\"~]?/" ${HOMEDIR}/${INIFILE} 2>null|sed "s/.*\([~ \"]\/[\.0-9A-Za-z_\/\-]*\).*/\1/"`;for REFFILE in $REFLIST;do FULLREF=`echo $REFFILE|sed "s:\~:${HOMEDIR}:g"|sed "s:^\s*::g"`;dirname $FULLREF|xargs stat -c "dir:%a:%n";stat -c "file:%a:%n" $FULLREF;done;done;done|sort|uniq

This command outputs a list of files and directories and their associated access modes.

If any local initialization file executes a world-writable program or script or a script from a world-writable directory, this is a finding.
Fix Text (F-31263r1_fix)
Remove the world-writable permission of files referenced by local initialization scripts, or remove the references to these files in the local initialization scripts.