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4.8.4 Ensure default path does not include current working directory

Information

This change removes any "." or "::" entries from /etc/environment . If a "." or "::" is present the current working directory is included in the default search path.

Any "." and "::" will be removed from /etc/environment . This means that any harmful programs placed in common PATH locations, would never be automatically executed. All directories must be explicitly defined within the PATH variable.

Solution

Examine PATH in /etc/environment to see if it contains any "." or "::" entries:

grep "^PATH=" /etc/environment |awk '/((:[ \t]*:)|(:[ \t]*$)|(^[\t]*:)|(^.:)|(:.$)|(:.:))/'

If the command above yields output, remove the "." and "::" entries from:

vi /etc/environment

See Also

https://workbench.cisecurity.org/benchmarks/22751

Item Details

Category: CONFIGURATION MANAGEMENT

References: 800-53|CM-6b.

Plugin: Unix

Control ID: b753aa460d159b694ec734bfc16feb91222afecde3afa813bf2da4839a854159