The WebSphere Application Server must be run as a non-admin user.
An XCCDF Rule
Description
<VulnDiscussion>Running WebSphere as an admin user gives attackers immediate admin privileges in the event the WebSphere processes are compromised. Best practice is to operate the WebSphere server with an account that has limited OS privileges. To configure system startup: https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/en/SSAW57_8.5.5/com.ibm.websphere.nd.multiplatform.doc/ae/trun_processrestart.html</VulnDiscussion><FalsePositives></FalsePositives><FalseNegatives></FalseNegatives><Documentable>false</Documentable><Mitigations></Mitigations><SeverityOverrideGuidance></SeverityOverrideGuidance><PotentialImpacts></PotentialImpacts><ThirdPartyTools></ThirdPartyTools><MitigationControl></MitigationControl><Responsibility></Responsibility><IAControls></IAControls>
- ID
- SV-95991r1_rule
- Severity
- Medium
- References
- Updated
Remediation - Manual Procedure
Ensure that WAS processes are started via the specified non-privileged OS user ID when running commands such as startManager, startNode, and startServer.
If startManager and startNode are in the system startup scripts, ensure that they are not started as the root user or admin user for Windows systems.
For example, in the UNIX system, the inittab entry may look like: "was:235:respawn:/usr/WebSphere/AppServer/bin/rc.was >/dev/console 2>&1".