STIGUI
V-244532CAT II — Medium severitySV-244532r1101906_rule

RHEL 8 must be configured so that all files and directories contained in local interactive user home directories are group-owned by a group of which the home directory owner is a member.

Rule version RHEL-08-010741 · STIG v2 · 2026-05-20

Discussion

If a local interactive user's files are group-owned by a group of which the user is not a member, unintended users may be able to access them.

Check

Verify all files and directories in a local interactive user home directory are group-owned by a group that the user is a member.

Check the group owner of all files and directories in a local interactive user's home directory with the following command:

Note: The example will be for the user "smithj", who has a home directory of "/home/smithj".

$ sudo ls -lLR /<home directory>/<users home directory>/ -rw-r--r-- 1 smithj smithj 18 Mar 5 17:06 file1 -rw-r--r-- 1 smithj smithj 193 Mar 5 17:06 file2 -rw-r--r-- 1 smithj sa 231 Mar 5 17:06 file3

If any files are found with a group owner different from the home directory user private group, check to see if the user is a member of that group with the following command:

$ sudo grep smithj /etc/group sa:x:100:juan,shelley,bob,smithj smithj:x:521:smithj

If any files or directories are group owned by a group that the directory owner is not a member of verify that it is documented with the information system security officer (ISSO). If it is not, this is a finding.

Fix

Change the group of a local interactive user's files and directories to a group that the interactive user is a member. To change the group owner of a local interactive user's files and directories, use the following command:

Note: The example will be for the user smithj, who has a home directory of "/home/smithj" and is a member of the users group.

$ sudo chgrp smithj /home/smithj/<file or directory>

Identifiers

Group ID
V-244532
Group title
SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227
Rule ID
SV-244532r1101906_rule
Check ID
C-47807r1101905_chk
Fix ID
F-47764r743844_fix