Cron must not execute group-writable or world-writable programs.

Overview

Finding ID	Version	Rule ID	IA Controls	Severity
V-976	GEN003000	SV-37384r1_rule	DCSL-1	Medium

Description
If cron executes group-writable or world-writable programs, there is a possibility that unauthorized users could manipulate the programs with malicious intent. This could compromise system and network security.

STIG	Date
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 Security Technical Implementation Guide	2014-04-02

Details

Check Text ( C-36071r1_chk )
List all cronjobs on the system. Procedure: # ls /var/spool/cron # ls /etc/cron.d /etc/crontab /etc/cron.daily /etc/cron.hourly /etc/cron.monthly /etc/cron.weekly or # ls /etc/cron*\|grep -v deny If cron jobs exist under any of the above directories, use the following command to search for programs executed by cron: # more Perform a long listing of each program file found in the cron file to determine if the file is group-writable or world-writable. # ls -la If cron executes group-writable or world-writable files, this is a finding.

Check Text ( C-36071r1_chk )

List all cronjobs on the system.
Procedure:

# ls /var/spool/cron

# ls /etc/cron.d /etc/crontab /etc/cron.daily /etc/cron.hourly /etc/cron.monthly /etc/cron.weekly
or
# ls /etc/cron*|grep -v deny

If cron jobs exist under any of the above directories, use the following command to search for programs executed by cron:

# more

Perform a long listing of each program file found in the cron file to determine if the file is group-writable or world-writable.

# ls -la

If cron executes group-writable or world-writable files, this is a finding.

Fix Text (F-31315r1_fix)
Remove the world-writable and group-writable permissions from the cron program file(s) identified. # chmod go-w