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All local interactive users must have a home directory assigned in the /etc/passwd file.


Overview

Finding ID Version Rule ID IA Controls Severity
V-72011 RHEL-07-020600 SV-86635r1_rule Medium
Description
If local interactive users are not assigned a valid home directory, there is no place for the storage and control of files they should own.
STIG Date
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Security Technical Implementation Guide 2017-12-14

Details

Check Text ( C-72243r1_chk )
Verify local interactive users on the system have a home directory assigned.

Check for missing local interactive user home directories with the following command:

# pwck -r
user 'lp': directory '/var/spool/lpd' does not exist
user 'news': directory '/var/spool/news' does not exist
user 'uucp': directory '/var/spool/uucp' does not exist
user 'smithj': directory '/home/smithj' does not exist

Ask the System Administrator (SA) if any users found without home directories are local interactive users. If the SA is unable to provide a response, check for users with a User Identifier (UID) of 1000 or greater with the following command:

# cut -d: -f 1,3 /etc/passwd | egrep ":[1-4][0-9]{2}$|:[0-9]{1,2}$"

If any interactive users do not have a home directory assigned, this is a finding.
Fix Text (F-78363r1_fix)
Assign home directories to all local interactive users that currently do not have a home directory assigned.