V-2257

Discussion

There are typically several individuals and groups that are involved in running a production web server. These accounts must be restricted to only those necessary to maintain web services, review the server’s operation, and the operating system. By minimizing the amount of user and group accounts on a web server the total attack surface of the server is minimized. Additionally, if the required accounts aren’t documented no known standard is created. Without a known standard the ability to identify required accounts is diminished, increasing the opportunity for error when such a standard is needed (i.e. COOP, IR, etc.).

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Proposed Questions:
How many user accounts are associated with the Web server operation and maintenance?

Where are these accounts documented?

Use the command line utility more /etc/passwd to identify the accounts on the web server.

Query the SA or Web Manager regarding the use of each account and each group.

If the documentation does not match the users and groups found on the server, this is a finding.