SV-37425r2: The services file must be group-owned by root or bin. | Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 Security Technical Implementation Guide

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Assessment Title

Rule Text

The services file must be group-owned by root or bin.

Description

Discussion Text

Failure to give ownership of system configuration files to root or a system group provides the designated owner and unauthorized users with the potential to change the system configuration possibly weakening the system's security posture.

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

IA Controls

NIST SP 800-53

Not mappedCCI-000225

Additional Details

Responsibility

System Administrator

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:261
# The services file must be group-owned by root or bin.
# Per-module read mechanism curated from static teardown of DISA's SCC tool
# (SCAP Compliance Checker) -- see the SCC Automation Reference above.

# Test group of /etc/services is root
# file_object (file_test)
test_1() {
  [ "$(stat -c '%g' '/etc/services')" -eq 0 ]
}
# Test existence of group bin
# textfilecontent54_object (textfilecontent54_test)
test_2() {
  grep -Pq '^bin:[^:]*:([0-9]+):' '/etc/group' &>/dev/null
}
# Test group of /etc/services is bin or root
# file_object (file_test)
test_3() {
  ( [ "$(stat -c '%g' '/etc/services')" = "$(sed -En 's/^bin:[^:]*:([0-9]+):/\1/p' '/etc/group')" ] ) || ( [ "$(stat -c '%g' '/etc/services')" -eq 0 ] )
}
# Test existence of group bin
# textfilecontent54_object (textfilecontent54_test)
test_4() {
  grep -Pq '^bin:[^:]*:([0-9]+):' '/etc/group' &>/dev/null
}

if ( ( test_1 && test_2 ) || ( test_3 && test_4 ) ); 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:261

if [ ! -f "/etc/services" ]; then echo "PASS"; exit 0; fi
if [ $(stat -c "%G" /etc/services) = "root" ] || [ $(grep "^bin:[^:]*:" /etc/group | grep -o "[0-9]*" | head -n 1) = $(stat -c "%g" /etc/services) ]; then echo "PASS"; exit 0; fi
echo "FAIL"; exit 1

Remediation

Change the group-owner of the services file.

Procedure:
# chgrp root /etc/services