The Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating system must be configured so that all local initialization files for interactive users are owned by the home directory user or root.

Overview

Finding ID	Version	Rule ID	IA Controls	Severity
V-204474	RHEL-07-020690	SV-204474r603834_rule		Medium

Description
Local initialization files are used to configure the user's shell environment upon logon. Malicious modification of these files could compromise accounts upon logon.

STIG	Date
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Security Technical Implementation Guide	2022-12-06

Details

Check Text ( C-4598r622297_chk )
Verify the local initialization files of all local interactive users are owned by that user. Check the home directory assignment for all non-privileged users on the system with the following command: Note: The example will be for the smithj user, who has a home directory of "/home/smithj". # awk -F: '($3>=1000)&&($7 !~ /nologin/){print $1, $3, $6}' /etc/passwd smithj 1000 /home/smithj Note: This may miss interactive users that have been assigned a privileged User Identifier (UID). Evidence of interactive use may be obtained from a number of log files containing system logon information. Check the owner of all local interactive user's initialization files with the following command: # ls -al /home/smithj/.[^.]* \| more -rwxr-xr-x 1 smithj users 896 Mar 10 2011 .profile -rwxr-xr-x 1 smithj users 497 Jan 6 2007 .login -rwxr-xr-x 1 smithj users 886 Jan 6 2007 .something If all local interactive user's initialization files are not owned by that user or root, this is a finding.

Check Text ( C-4598r622297_chk )

Verify the local initialization files of all local interactive users are owned by that user.

Check the home directory assignment for all non-privileged users on the system with the following command:

Note: The example will be for the smithj user, who has a home directory of "/home/smithj".

# awk -F: '($3>=1000)&&($7 !~ /nologin/){print $1, $3, $6}' /etc/passwd
smithj 1000 /home/smithj

Note: This may miss interactive users that have been assigned a privileged User Identifier (UID). Evidence of interactive use may be obtained from a number of log files containing system logon information.

Check the owner of all local interactive user's initialization files with the following command:

# ls -al /home/smithj/.[^.]* | more

-rwxr-xr-x 1 smithj users 896 Mar 10 2011 .profile
-rwxr-xr-x 1 smithj users 497 Jan 6 2007 .login
-rwxr-xr-x 1 smithj users 886 Jan 6 2007 .something

If all local interactive user's initialization files are not owned by that user or root, this is a finding.

Fix Text (F-4598r462464_fix)
Set the owner of the local initialization files for interactive users to either the directory owner or root with the following command: Note: The example will be for the smithj user, who has a home directory of "/home/smithj". # chown smithj /home/smithj/.[^.]*