← Back to IBM AIX 7.x Security Technical Implementation Guide

V-215342

CAT II (Medium)

The AIX global initialization files must contain the mesg -n or mesg n commands.

Rule ID

SV-215342r991589_rule

STIG

IBM AIX 7.x Security Technical Implementation Guide

Version

V3R2

CCIs

CCI-000366

Discussion

Command "mesg -n" allows only the root user the permission to send messages to your workstation to avoid having others clutter your display with incoming messages.

Check Content

Check global initialization files for the presence of "mesg n" command by running: 

# grep "mesg" /etc/profile /etc/environment /etc/security/environ /etc/security/.profile /etc/csh.login /etc/csh.cshrc 
/etc/profile:mesg n
/etc/environment:mesg n

If any global initialization file does not contain "mesg n", or it contains the "mesg y" command, this is a finding.

Fix Text

Edit the global initialization files that do not contain "mesg n" command and add the following line to the initialization files:
mesg n