RHEL 9 library directories must be group-owned by root or a system account.

STIG ID: RHEL-09-232215  |  SRG: SRG-OS-000259-GPOS-00100 |  Severity: medium |  CCI: CCI-001499 |  Vulnerability Id: V-257923 | 

Vulnerability Discussion

If RHEL 9 allowed any user to make changes to software libraries, then those changes might be implemented without undergoing the appropriate testing and approvals that are part of a robust change management process.

This requirement applies to RHEL 9 with software libraries that are accessible and configurable, as in the case of interpreted languages. Software libraries also include privileged programs that execute with escalated privileges.

Check

Verify the system-wide shared library directories are group-owned by "root" with the following command:

$ sudo find /lib /lib64 /usr/lib /usr/lib64 ! -group root -type d -exec stat -c "%n %G" '{}' \;

If any system-wide shared library directory is returned and is not group-owned by a required system account, this is a finding.

Fix

Configure the system-wide shared library directories (/lib, /lib64, /usr/lib and /usr/lib64) to be protected from unauthorized access.

Run the following command, replacing "[DIRECTORY]" with any library directory not group-owned by "root".

$ sudo chgrp root [DIRECTORY]