The AIX root account must not have world-writable directories in its executable search path.

Overview

Finding ID	Version	Rule ID	IA Controls	Severity
V-215193	AIX7-00-001034	SV-215193r991589_rule	CCI-000366	medium
Description
If the root search path contains a world-writable directory, malicious software could be placed in the path by intruders and/or malicious users and inadvertently run by root with all of root's privileges.
STIG			Date
IBM AIX 7.x Security Technical Implementation Guide			2024-08-16

Details

Check Text (C-215193r991589_chk)

Check for world-writable permissions on all directories in the root user's executable search path: # ls -ld `echo $PATH | sed "s/:/ /g"` drwxr-xr-x 33 root system 8192 Nov 29 14:45 /etc drwxr-xr-x 3 bin bin 256 Aug 11 2017 /sbin drwxr-xr-x 4 bin bin 45056 Oct 31 12:59 /usr/bin drwxr-xr-x 1 bin bin 16 Aug 11 2017 /usr/bin/X11 drwxr-xr-x 2 bin bin 4096 Aug 11 2017 /usr/java7_64/bin drwxr-xr-x 4 bin bin 4096 Feb 17 2017 /usr/java7_64/jre/bin drwxr-xr-x 8 bin bin 49152 Oct 31 12:59 /usr/sbin drwxrwxr-x 2 bin bin 4096 Aug 11 2017 /usr/ucb If any of the directories in the "PATH" variable are world-writable, this is a finding.

Fix Text (F-16389r294031_fix)

For each world-writable path in root's executable search path, perform one of the following. Remove the world-writable permission on the directory. Run command: # chmod o-w <path> -OR- Remove the world-writable directory from the executable search path. Identify and edit the initialization file referencing the world-writable directory and remove it from the PATH variable.