mediumfilesystemverified ✓rollback-safe

Ensure world-writable directories are owned by root or system accounts

world-writable-dirs-ownership · RHEL ≥ 8 · 1 impl

Description

All world-writable directories must be owned by root, sys, bin, or an application user to prevent unauthorized file creation and manipulation.

Rationale

World-writable directories owned by non-system users can be exploited for privilege escalation or denial-of-service attacks.

Check → Remediate

Checkcommand

# Find world-writable directories owned by non-system users (UID > 999)
result=$(find / -xdev -type d -perm -0002 -uid +999 -print 2>/dev/null || true)
if [ -n "$result" ]; then
  echo "FAIL: World-writable directories owned by non-system users:"
  echo "$result"
  exit 1
fi
echo "OK: All world-writable directories are owned by system accounts"
exit 0

expected_exit:: 0

Remediatefile_permissions

find_paths:: /
find_type:: d
find_args:: -xdev -perm -0002 -uid +999
owner:: root

Framework references

STIG

V-281045 / RHEL-10-400140V-257928 / RHEL-09-232240V-230318

NIST 800-53

CM-6AC-6

Live verification

rhel8:check

#filesystem#permissions#world-writable#ownership