Linux.com :: Securing a fresh Linux install, part 2 http://www.linux.

com/archive/feature/113671

Linux.com
Search

Search Search

Log in | Create Account | Submit Story

Articles
Case studies
Features
News
NewsVac
Reviews
Documentation
What Are Linux HOWTOs?
Where Can I Get Linux HOWTOs?
HOWTO Translations
Categorized List of HOWTOs
Single list of HOWTOs
Single list of mini-HOWTOs
Unmaintained HOWTOs
Writing and Submitting a HOWTO
Copyright Information
Distributions
Forums
About Us

What is Linux?

Learn about Linux

Download Linux

Get Linux help

Feeds

Features
NewsVac
Forums
News

1 of 9 08/26/2010 05:17 PM
Linux.com :: Securing a fresh Linux install, part 2 http://www.linux.com/archive/feature/113671

Video
Comments

Special Offers

Get special offers on:

Linux
Application Dev
Programming
Software

Email:

Submit

Linux Dedicated Hosting

Latest Technology Servers Hosted In Tier IV
datacenter. Learn M ore!
www.CtrlS.in/India

Feature
Securing a fresh Linux install, part 2

By Mike Peters on April 21, 2004 (8:00:00 AM)

Share Print Comments

In the first article in this series we began looking at ways to secure a new
Linux server, starting with locking down services. Next, let's look at securing
files and monitoring system logs.
SUID and SGID files

SUID and SGID files are executables which, when run by a normal user, may
have access to resources not normally available to the user running the
program. For example, an SUID program could have the permissions:

-r-sr-xr-x 1 root root 11267 Jan 21 00:28 /usr/sbin/foo

The s in the owner's permission field in place of the usual x indicates that

2 of 9 08/26/2010 05:17 PM
Linux.com :: Securing a fresh Linux install, part 2 http://www.linux.com/archive/feature/113671

/usr/sbin/foo is SUID. If run by a normal user, the executable will run with the
privileges of the owner of the file, in this case root. In this case the program
will have access to the same system resources as root.

Below is an example of an SGID file:

-r-xr-sr-x 1 root foo 11267 Jan 21 00:28 /usr/sbin/foo

Here there is an s in the place of the group's executable bit, meaning the file is
SGID and will be executed with the group permissions of the foo group.

SGID and SUID programs may be used by a cracker to gain elevated

permissions on a system, so you should keep track of such files. You can find
SUID and SGID files using find:

# find / -perm -4000 -o -perm -2000 -exec ls -ldb {} \; >> SUID_files.txt

This command finds all SUID or SGID files and lists them in a file called
SUID_files.txt. You can unset SUID or SGID privileges with the command chmod
-s /usr/sbin/foo, but be warned, unsetting the SUID or SGID bit on some
programs may mean that they will no longer run. Periodically check for new
files.

There should be no reason for users to have SUID files in their home
directories so you should use the nosuid option in /etc/fstab for the partition
containing users $HOME directories. For example:

/dev/hda3 /home ext3 defaults,nosuid 1 1

World readable/writable files

Files should be world readable or writable only for very good reasons. You
should check for such files the way we did above for SGID and SUID files:

# find / \( -perm -a+r -o -perm -a+w \) ! -type l >> world_readwrite.txt

Again, check through the list and remove permissions from files that do not
need to be world readable or writable, and run checks regularly for new world
readable or writable files.

Files with no owner or group

Ownerless files can be an indication that someone has gained access to your
system. You should check regularly using the command # find / -nouser -o -nogroup.
If you find any ownerless files, either delete them, or, if you know what they
are and wish to keep them, assign them to an appropriate user and group. For

3 of 9 08/26/2010 05:17 PM
Linux.com :: Securing a fresh Linux install, part 2 http://www.linux.com/archive/feature/113671

example, assign myfile to the user foo and the group bar you would issue the
command # chown foo.bar myfile

Using umask

The umask command can be used to determine the permissions given to newly
created files on your system. Addng the line umask 022 to the /etc/profile file tells
the system that any files created by users should have the permissions 0644,
or -rw-r--r--. This means users must explicitly make a file executable by using
chmod in their $HOME directory.

The immutable and append-only bits

With chattr, root can set files to be read-only or append-only. Setting the
immutable bit (making a file read-only) ensures that a file cannot be altered,
even by root (of course root can remove the immutable bit and then alter the
file, so it's not watertight). Setting the append-only bit ensures that the
existing contents of a file cannot be changed, only added to. It is a good idea to
set the append-only bit on log files: # chattr +a /var/log/messages.

You can set the immutable bit to make it more difficult to replace important
executables or change critical configuration files:

# chattr +i /usr/bin/ps
# chattr +i /etc/services

The attributes of files set by chattr can be displayed using the lsattr utility.

System logs

In order to trace any unwanted activity on your computer, you should keep
complete and accurate logs. On Linux machines, logging is handled by the
syslog daemon, syslogd. Syslogd reads its configuration from the
/etc/syslog.conf file. You can set the facilities to be logged, the log priority, and
the files in which to log information here. The default values in most
distributions do not give you enough information.

A sensible log policy is to log almost everything in /var/log/messages and

/var/log/syslog and then to have each individual facility log to its own separate
file, as shown in the example below:

--- Begin Example syslog.conf-----

# Log anything 'info' or higher, but lower than 'warn'.

# Exclude mail. This is logged elsewhere.
*.info;*.!warn;mail.none -/var/log/messages

# Log anything 'warn' or higher.

4 of 9 08/26/2010 05:17 PM
Linux.com :: Securing a fresh Linux install, part 2 http://www.linux.com/archive/feature/113671

# Exclude mail. This is logged elsewhere.

*.warn; -/var/log/syslog

# Debugging information is logged here.

*.=debug -/var/log/debug

# Kernel related logs:

kern.* -/var/log/kernel

# Private authentication message logging:

authpriv.* -/var/log/secure

# Cron related logs:

cron.* -/var/log/cron

# Mail related logs:

mail.* -/var/log/maillog

# Daemon related logs:

daemon.* -/var/log/daemonlog

# User related logs:

user.* -/var/log/userlog

# Mark logs:
mark.* -/var/log/marklog

# Emergency level messages go to all users consoles:

*.emerg *

--- End Example syslog.conf-----

Note the dash before the log files' names. This tells syslogd not to sync after
every log. The disadvantage of this is that log information may be lost in the
event of a system crash. Removing the dash, however, can cause a performance
loss with heavy logging.

If you want to be able to track logs in real time, you can open a log file using
the command tail -f /var/log/messages. Alternatively you can have a permanent log
console by adding the line

*.* /dev/tty8

to the end of your syslog.conf file. This displays logs in real time on /dev/tty8.
(Be sure that tty8 exists, of course!)

In order to keep accurate logs, ensure that your system clock is accurate at all
times. You should look to using Network Time Protocol (NTP) to maintain your
system clock's accuracy. The easiest way to do this is to regularly run ntpdate
some.time.server from a cron job.

5 of 9 08/26/2010 05:17 PM
Linux.com :: Securing a fresh Linux install, part 2 http://www.linux.com/archive/feature/113671

Finally, although it's not really related to your system logs, make sure you
redirect root's mail to your normal user account so you don't miss any
important warning mail messages sent to root. You should do this either by
placing the line:

root: foo@mydomain.com

in /etc/aliases and running the command newaliases, or, alternatively, create a

file named .forward in /root containing the address you want mail to be
forwarded to.

In the third and final part of this series we'll look at security considerations for
some important networking tools.

Mike Peters is a freelance consultant and programmer and long-time Linux

user.

Share Print Comments

Related Links

Last 5 articles by this author:

Securing Apache Jul 15, 2004

Encrypting partitions using dm-crypt and the 2.6 series kernel Jun 08,
2004
Chrooting Apache May 27, 2004
Securing a fresh Linux install, part 3 Apr 22, 2004
Securing a fresh Linux install, part 2 Apr 21, 2004

Sponsored links:

Best deals: Technology

Comments

on Securing a fresh Linux install, part 2

Note: Comments are owned by the poster. We are not responsible for their
content.

lower back pain

6 of 9 08/26/2010 05:17 PM
Linux.com :: Securing a fresh Linux install, part 2 http://www.linux.com/archive/feature/113671

Posted by: Anonymous Coward on May 30, 2006 01:04 AM

[URL=http://nervepainrelief.jeeran.com/painrelief<nobr>.<wbr></nobr> htm]
Nerve pain relief [/URL]

[URL=http://www.back.painreliefnetwork.net/lowbac<nobr>k<wbr></nobr>
pain.htm] Low back pain [/URL]

[URL=http://blog.gala.net/uploads/painreliefback/<nobr>b<wbr></nobr>
ackpainrelief.htm] Back pain relief [/URL]

[URL=http://www.weblog.ro/usercontent/13155/profi<nobr>l<wbr></nobr>
es/kneepainrelief.htm] Knee pain relief [/URL]

[URL=http://www.info.painreliefnetwork.net/Pain-R<nobr>e<wbr></nobr>
lief.html] Pain relief [/URL]

[URL=http://www.sitefights.com/community/scifi/pa<nobr>i<wbr></nobr>
nrelief/painreliefpreved.htm] Pain relief [/URL]

[URL=http://www.info.painreliefnetwork.net/Medica<nobr>t<wbr></nobr>
ion-Pain-Relief.html] Medication pain relief [/URL]

[URL=http://www.info.painreliefnetwork.net/Natura<nobr>l<wbr></nobr>
-Pain-Relief.html] Natural pain relief [/URL]

[URL=http://painrelief.fanspace.com/index.htm] Pain relief [/URL]

[URL=http://lowerbackpain.0pi.com/backpain.htm] Back Pain [/URL]

[URL=http://painreliefproduct.guildspace.com] Pain relief [/URL]

[URL=http://painreliefmedic.friendpages.com] Pain relief [/URL]

Corrections?

Posted by: Administrator on April 22, 2004 09:31 AM

I have two comments about this article:

(1) World readable files are very common on Linux. It's world writable files
that should be rare. It is true if you want files private, like your home directory

7 of 9 08/26/2010 05:17 PM
Linux.com :: Securing a fresh Linux install, part 2 http://www.linux.com/archive/feature/113671

for example it should not be world readable -- and there are certain files
in<nobr> <wbr></nobr>/etc and elsewhere that should not be world readable
but ths is not a blanket statement.

(2) A umask of 022 seems just wrong to me. This is no security at all pretty
much. In fact it contradicts what you said a few paragraphs earlier about not
wanting world readable files. If you want security use 007, 027, or 077
depending on your needs, how you setup shares, and your group structure.

These are two basic mistakes. It makes me wonder how much the author really
knows about security. I think your articiles are about an important topic, but
please present the topic with a little more care.

Rob

This story has been archived. Comments can no longer be posted.

Linux Unmanaged VPS

Starts at $15/mo; 360MB RAM,
RAID10 20GB Disk, 500-1000GB
Transfer
www.tektonic.net

8 of 9 08/26/2010 05:17 PM
Linux.com :: Securing a fresh Linux install, part 2 http://www.linux.com/archive/feature/113671

LinuxLIVE for Linux PCs

Suspend-Resume, Sharing,
Mobility and Re-Connect to
Remote X Sessions
www.starnet.com

© Copyright 1999-2008 - SourceForge, Inc., All Rights Reserved

About Linux.com - Privacy Statement - Terms of Use - Advertise - Trademark - Ask Linux
Questions - Write for Us - RSS Feed
ThinkGeek - Slashdot - SourceForge.net - freshmeat - Surveys - Jobs

Tableless layout Validate XHTML 1.0 Strict Validate CSS Powered by Xaraya

9 of 9 08/26/2010 05:17 PM