SV-258051r991589: All RHEL 9 local interactive users must have a home directory assigned in the /etc/passwd file. | Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 STIG SCAP Benchmark

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Assessment Title

Rule Text

All RHEL 9 local interactive users must have a home directory assigned in the /etc/passwd file.

Description

Discussion Text

If local interactive users are not assigned a valid home directory, there is no place for the storage and control of files they should own.

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

IA Controls

NIST SP 800-53

Not mappedCCI-000366

References

DPMS Target Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 DISA DPMS Target Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 5551

Checks

DISA STIG (Manual Reference)

Verify that interactive users on the system have a home directory assigned with the following command:
 
$ sudo awk -F: '($3>=1000)&&($7 !~ /nologin/){print $1, $3, $6}' /etc/passwd

smithk:x:1000:1000:smithk:/home/smithk:/bin/bash
scsaustin:x:1001:1001:scsaustin:/home/scsaustin:/bin/bash
djohnson:x:1002:1002:djohnson:/home/djohnson:/bin/bash

Inspect the output and verify that all interactive users (normally users with a user identifier (UID) greater that 1000) have a home directory defined.

If users home directory is not defined, this is a finding.

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.stig.rhel9os:def:258051
# All RHEL 9 local interactive users must have a home directory assigned in the /etc/passwd file.
# Per-module read mechanism curated from static teardown of DISA's SCC tool
# (SCAP Compliance Checker) -- see the SCC Automation Reference above.

# Check for local non-system users in /etc/passwd without a home directory defined
# password_object (password_test)
test_1() {
  (getent passwd '[\w]+' | cut -d: -f6) | grep -Pq '.+'
}
# Check /etc/passwd if root has a home directory defined
# password_object (password_test)
test_2() {
  (getent passwd '[\w]+' | cut -d: -f6) | grep -Pq '.+'
}

if ( test_1 && test_2 ); 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:mil.disa.stig.rhel9os:def:258051
if [ ! -f "/etc/passwd" ]; then echo "PASS"; exit 0; fi
users=$(cut -d: -f1 /etc/passwd)
for user in $users; do
    if [ ! -d "/home/$user" ]; then
        if [ "$user" != "root" ]; then
            echo "FAIL"; exit 1
        fi
    fi
done
echo "PASS"; exit 0

Remediation

Create and assign home directories to all local interactive users on RHEL 9 that currently do not have a home directory assigned.