SV-34578r1: The system must not have the unnecessary "ftp" account. | Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 Security Technical Implementation Guide

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Assessment Title

Rule Text

The system must not have the unnecessary "ftp" account.

Description

Discussion Text

Accounts that provide no operational purpose provide additional opportunities for system compromise. Unnecessary accounts include user accounts for individuals not requiring access to the system and application accounts for applications not installed on the system.

How this relates to the STIG checklist: STIG vs SCAP benchmark.

IA Controls

NIST SP 800-53

Not mappedCCI-000012

Additional Details

Responsibility

System Administrator

IA Controls

IAAC-1

References

DPMS Target Red Hat 5 DISA DPMS Target Red Hat 5 2154

SCC Automation Reference

The reconstructed evaluation script behind this rule's OVAL check(s) — every module a compound check combines, with this rule's own concrete values and DISA's SCC tool's real per-module mechanism curated from static teardown of SCC releases.

#!/bin/bash
# Reconstructed from oval:mil.disa.fso.rhel11:def:456
# The system must not have the unnecessary "ftp" account.
# Per-module read mechanism curated from static teardown of DISA's SCC tool
# (SCAP Compliance Checker) -- see the SCC Automation Reference above.

# vsftp installed
# rpminfo_object (rpminfo_test)
test_1() {
  rpm -q --quiet 'vsftp' &>/dev/null
}
# krb5-workstation installed
# rpminfo_object (rpminfo_test)
test_2() {
  rpm -q --quiet 'krb5-workstation' &>/dev/null
}
# no ftp acct in passwd
# password_object (password_test)
test_3() {
  ! ( getent passwd ftp &>/dev/null )
}

if ! ( test_1 || test_2 || test_3 ); then
  echo "PASS"
else
  echo "FAIL"
fi

Assessment Script Powered by AISandbox-executed

A standalone Shell script to assess this control automatically. Review before running it in your environment.

Syntax-checked and actually executed in an isolated sandbox (not the real system this checks) — confirmed to run without errors.

#!/bin/sh
# OVAL Definition: oval:mil.disa.fso.rhel11:def:456
if [ ! -f "/etc/passwd" ]; then echo "PASS"; exit 0; fi
if grep -q "^ftp:" /etc/passwd; then echo "FAIL"; exit 1; fi
echo "PASS"
exit 0

Remediation

Remove the "ftp" account from the /etc/passwd file before connecting a system to the network.