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4.1.2.11 Ensure root user has a dedicated home directory

Information

The root user must have a dedicated home directory and not use / as their home directory.

By default, the home directory for the root user on AIX is / . This means that all configuration files and directories it creates are visible to all users and may be accessible if the root user has a weak umask setting.

Moving these files to a dedicated home directory and setting appropriate file permissions allows for appropriate use of discretionary access control to these files.

Solution

Create a new home directory for the root user

mkdir /root

Set ownership and permissions on this directory

chown root:system /root
chmod 0700 /root

Update the home directory for the root user

chuser home=/root root

Move any necessary configuration files or directories to this new directory

See Also

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

Item Details

Category: ACCESS CONTROL, MEDIA PROTECTION

References: 800-53|AC-3, 800-53|AC-5, 800-53|AC-6, 800-53|MP-2, CSCv7|14.6

Plugin: Unix

Control ID: e202a2e63ed663e689bc70594de9e5eb304d97a71646e50cef0fa3777b258cf6