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V-11984

CAT II (Medium)

All skeleton files and directories (typically in /etc/skel) must be owned by root or bin.

Rule ID

SV-45136r1_rule

STIG

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server v11 for System z Security Technical Implementation Guide

Version

V1R12

CCIs

CCI-000225

Discussion

If the skeleton files are not protected, unauthorized personnel could change user startup parameters and possibly jeopardize user files. 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.

Check Content

Check skeleton files ownership.
# ls -alL /etc/skel
If a skeleton file is not owned by root or bin, this is a finding.

Fix Text

Change the ownership of skeleton files with incorrect mode:
# chown root <skeleton file>
or
# ls -L /etc/skel| awk '{ print "/etc/skel/"$1 }' |xargs stat -L -c %U:%n|egrep -v "^(root|bin):"|cut -d: -f2|xargs chown root 
will change all files not owned by root or bin to root.