Verify that System Executables Have Root Ownership

Description

System executables are stored in the following directories by default:

/bin
/sbin
/usr/bin
/usr/libexec
/usr/local/bin
/usr/local/sbin
/usr/sbin

All files in these directories should be owned by the root user. If any file FILE in these directories is found to be owned by a user other than root, correct its ownership with the following command:

$ sudo chown root FILE

Rationale

System binaries are executed by privileged users as well as system services, and restrictive permissions are necessary to ensure that their execution of these programs cannot be co-opted.