There must be no .rhosts or hosts.equiv files on the system.

From VMware ESXi Server 5.0 Security Technical Implementation Guide

Associated with: CCI-001436

SV-51068r1_rule There must be no .rhosts or hosts.equiv files on the system.

Vulnerability discussion

The .rhosts or hosts.equiv files are used to configure host-based authentication for individual users or the system. Host-based authentication is not sufficient for preventing unauthorized access to the system.

Check content

The files hosts.equiv (/etc) and .rhosts (in the user home directory) contains host/user pairs to be trusted by the local system. Locate the files: # ls -l /etc/hosts.equiv # find / | grep .rhosts or # cd # ls -l .rhosts If the hosts.equiv file or one or more .rhosts files are found, this is a finding.

Fix text

Remove the file(s): # rm -f /etc/hosts.equiv # rm -f /.rhosts

Pro Tips

Lavender hyperlinks in small type off to the right (of CSS class id, if you view the page source) point to globally unique URIs for each document and item. Copy the link location and paste anywhere you need to talk unambiguously about these things.

You can obtain data about documents and items in other formats. Simply provide an HTTP header Accept: text/turtle or Accept: application/rdf+xml.