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Anonymous FTP accounts must not have a functional shell.


Overview

Finding ID Version Rule ID IA Controls Severity
V-4387 GEN005000 SV-37549r2_rule High
Description
If an anonymous FTP account has been configured to use a functional shell, attackers could gain access to the shell if the account is compromised.
STIG Date
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 Security Technical Implementation Guide 2017-03-01

Details

Check Text ( C-36203r2_chk )
Check the shell for the anonymous FTP account.

Procedure:
# cat /etc/passwd | grep -i "^ftp:" | awk -F":" '{print$7}'

If the seventh field is empty (the entry ends with a ':') or if the seventh field does not contain one of the following, this is a finding:

/bin/false
/dev/null
/usr/bin/false
/bin/true
/sbin/nologin

Fix Text (F-31462r1_fix)
Configure anonymous FTP accounts to use a non-functional shell. If necessary, edit the /etc/passwd file to remove any functioning shells associated with the ftp account and replace them with non-functioning shells, such as /dev/null.