SV-37537r1: The ftpusers file must be owned by root. | Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 Security Technical Implementation Guide

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Assessment Title

Rule Text

The ftpusers file must be owned by root.

Description

Discussion Text

If the file ftpusers is not owned by root, an unauthorized user may modify the file to allow unauthorized accounts to use FTP.

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

IA Controls

ECLP-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:303
# The ftpusers file must be owned by root.
# Per-module read mechanism curated from static teardown of DISA's SCC tool
# (SCAP Compliance Checker) -- see the SCC Automation Reference above.

# Test owner of /etc/ftpusers is root
# file_object (file_test)
test_1() {
  [ "$(stat -c '%u' '/etc/ftpusers')" -eq 0 ]
}
# Test owner of /etc/vsftpd.ftpusers is root
# file_object (file_test)
test_2() {
  [ "$(stat -c '%u' '/etc/vsftpd.ftpusers')" -eq 0 ]
}
# Test owner of /etc/vsftpd/ftpusers is root
# file_object (file_test)
test_3() {
  [ "$(stat -c '%u' '/etc/vsftpd/ftpusers')" -eq 0 ]
}

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:303
if [ ! -f "/etc/ftpusers" ] || [ $(stat -c "%u" "/etc/ftpusers") -ne 0 ]; then :; else echo "PASS"; exit 0; fi
if [ ! -f "/etc/vsftpd.ftpusers" ] || [ $(stat -c "%u" "/etc/vsftpd.ftpusers") -ne 0 ]; then :; else echo "PASS"; exit 0; fi
if [ ! -f "/etc/vsftpd/ftpusers" ] || [ $(stat -c "%u" "/etc/vsftpd/ftpusers") -ne 0 ]; then :; else echo "PASS"; exit 0; fi
echo "FAIL"; exit 1

Remediation

Change the owner of the ftpusers file to root.
For gssftp:
# chown root /etc/ftpusers

For vsftp:
# chown root /etc/vsftpd.ftpusers /etc/vsftpd/ftpusers