Vulnerability Discussion

Local initialization files are used to configure the user's shell environment upon logon. Malicious modification of these files could compromise accounts upon logon.

World-readable "dot files" such as .bash_history or .netrc can reveal plaintext credentials, such files should be further protected (e.g., 0600).

Check

Verify that all local initialization files have a mode of "0740" or less permissive with the following command:

Note: The example will be for the "testuser" account, who has a home directory of "/home/testuser".

$ find /home/testuser/.[^.]* -maxdepth 0 -perm -740 -exec stat -c "%a %n" {} \; | more

755 /home/testuser/.cache
755 /home/testuser/.mozilla

If any local initialization files have a mode more permissive than "0740", this is a finding.

Fix

Set the mode of the local initialization files to "0740" with the following command:

Note: The example will be for the "testuser" account, who has a home directory of "/home/testuser".

$ chmod 0740 /home/testuser/.<INIT_FILE>