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All global initialization files must be group-owned by root, sys, bin, other, system, or the system default.


Overview

Finding ID Version Rule ID IA Controls Severity
V-11983 GEN001760 SV-45105r1_rule Medium
Description
Global initialization files are used to configure the user's shell environment upon login. Malicious modification of these files could compromise accounts upon logon. Failure to give ownership of sensitive files or utilities to root or bin provides the designated owner and unauthorized users with the potential to access sensitive information or change the system configuration which could weaken the system's security posture.
STIG Date
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server v11 for System z Security Technical Implementation Guide 2018-09-19

Details

Check Text ( C-42462r1_chk )
Check the group ownership of global initialization files.

Procedure:
# ls -lL /etc/bashrc /etc/csh.cshrc /etc/csh.login /etc/environment /etc/ksh.kshrc /etc/profile /etc/profile.d/* /etc/zshrc

This should show information for each file. Examine to ensure the group is always root

or:
# ls -lL /etc/bashrc /etc/csh.cshrc /etc/csh.login /etc/environment /etc/ksh.kshrc /etc/profile /etc/profile.d/* /etc/zshrc 2>/dev/null|sed "s/^[^\/]*//"|xargs stat -L -c %G:%n|egrep -v "^(root|sys|bin|other):"
will show you only the group and filename of files not owned by one of the approved groups.

If any global initialization file is not group-owned by root, sys, bin, other, system, or the system default, this is a finding.
Fix Text (F-38504r1_fix)
Change the group ownership of the global initialization file(s) with incorrect group ownership.

Procedure:
# chgrp root
or:
# ls -lL /etc/bashrc /etc/csh.cshrc /etc/csh.login /etc/environment /etc/ksh.kshrc /etc/profile /etc/profile.d/* /etc/zshrc 2>/dev/null|sed "s/^[^\/]*//"|xargs stat -L -c %G:%n|egrep -v "^(root|sys|bin|other):"|cut -d: -f2|xargs chgrp root
will set the group of all files not currently owned by an approved group to root.