Skip to content
ATO Pathways
  Log In

All Interactive User Home Directories Must Be Owned By The Primary User

An XCCDF Rule

Description

Change the owner of interactive users home directories to that correct owner. To change the owner of a interactive users home directory, use the following command: 

$ sudo chown USER /home/USER
This rule ensures every home directory related to an interactive user is owned by an interactive user. It also ensures that interactive users are owners of one and only one home directory.

warning alert: Warning

Due to OVAL limitation, this rule can report a false negative in a specific situation where two interactive users swap the ownership of their respective home directories.

Rationale

If a local interactive user does not own their home directory, unauthorized users could access or modify the user's files, and the users may not be able to access their own files.

ID
xccdf_org.ssgproject.content_rule_file_ownership_home_directories
Severity
Medium
References
Updated



Remediation - Ansible

- name: Get all local users from /etc/passwd
  ansible.builtin.getent:
    database: passwd
    split: ':'
  tags:
  - CCE-91404-4

Remediation - Shell Script


awk -F':' '{ if ($3 >= 1000 && $3 != 65534) system("chown -f " $3" "$6) }' /etc/passwd