Detections
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1.7.1.1 Ensure message of the day is configured properly

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This audit has been deprecated and will be removed in a future update.

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Information

The contents of the /etc/motd file are displayed to users after login and function as a message of the day for authenticated users. Unix-based systems have typically displayed information about the OS release and patch level upon logging in to the system. This information can be useful to developers who are developing software for a particular OS platform. If mingetty(8) supports the following options, they display operating system information: m - machine architecture r - operating system release s - operating system name v - operating system version Warning messages inform users who are attempting to login to the system of their legal status regarding the system and must include the name of the organization that owns the system and any monitoring policies that are in place. Displaying OS and patch level information in login banners also has the side effect of providing detailed system information to attackers attempting to target specific exploits of a system. Authorized users can easily get this information by running the 'uname -a' command once they have logged in.

Solution

Edit the /etc/motd file with the appropriate contents according to your site policy, remove any instances of m, r, s, or v.

See Also

https://benchmarks.cisecurity.org/tools2/linux/CIS_Ubuntu_Linux_14.04_LTS_Benchmark_v2.0.0.pdf

Item Details

Category: CONFIGURATION MANAGEMENT

References: 800-53|CM-6, CSCv6|3.1

Plugin: Unix

Control ID: 12367ea730b033e8ba4d1b095de44a1f6c7ae9a9deb88c5361961058883aff00