SV-37370r1: There must be no .rhosts, .shosts, hosts.equiv, or shosts.equiv files on the system. | Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 Security Technical Implementation Guide

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Assessment Title

Rule Text

There must be no .rhosts, .shosts, hosts.equiv, or shosts.equiv files on the system.

Description

Discussion Text

The .rhosts, .shosts, hosts.equiv, and shosts.equiv files are used to configure host-based authentication for individual users or the system. Host-based authentication is not sufficient for preventing unauthorized access to the system.

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

IA Controls

NIST SP 800-53

Not mappedCCI-000366

Additional Details

Responsibility

Information Assurance Officer

IA Controls

ECCD-1, ECCD-2

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.

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:149
if [ -n "$(find / -name.rhosts -print 2>/dev/null)" ] || [ -n "$(find / -name.shosts -print 2>/dev/null)" ] || [ -n "$(find / -name hosts.equiv -print 2>/dev/null)" ] || [ -n "$(find / -name shosts.equiv -print 2>/dev/null)" ]; then echo "FAIL"; exit 1; fi; echo "PASS"; exit 0

Remediation

Remove all the r-commands access control files.

Procedure:
# find / -name .rhosts -exec rm {} \;
# find / -name .shosts -exec rm {} \;
# find / -name hosts.equiv -exec rm {} \;
# find / -name shosts.equiv -exec rm {} \;