The system must not have the unnecessary news account.

From Oracle Linux 5 Security Technical Implementation Guide

Associated with: CCI-000012

SV-63215r2_rule The system must not have the unnecessary news account.

Vulnerability discussion

Accounts that provide no operational purpose provide additional opportunities for system compromise. Unnecessary accounts include user accounts for individuals not requiring access to the system and application accounts for applications not installed on the system.

Check content

Check the system for the unnecessary "news" accounts. Procedure: # rpm -q inn If the "inn" is installed the "news" user is necessary and this is not a finding. # grep ^news /etc/passwd If this account exists and "inn" is not installed, this is a finding.

Fix text

Remove the "news" account from the /etc/passwd file before connecting a system to the network.

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