STIGUI
V-216343CAT III — Low severitySV-216343r959010_rule

The value mesg n must be configured as the default setting for all users.

Rule version SOL-11.1-040270 · STIG v3 · 2026-08-19

Discussion

The "mesg n" command blocks attempts to use the "write" or "talk" commands to contact users at their terminals, but has the side effect of slightly strengthening permissions on the user's TTY device.

Check

Determine if "mesg n" is the default for users.

# grep "^mesg" /etc/.login
# grep "^mesg" /etc/profile

If either of these commands produces a line: mesg y

this is a finding.

For each existing user on the system, enter the command:

# mesg

If the command output is: is y

this is a finding.

Fix

The root role is required.

Edit the default profile configuration files.

# pfedit /etc/profile 
# pfedit /etc/.login

In each file add a new line:

mesg n

For each user on the system, enter the command:

# mesg n

Identifiers

Group ID
V-216343
Group title
SRG-OS-000480
Rule ID
SV-216343r959010_rule
Check ID
C-17579r371117_chk
Fix ID
F-17577r371118_fix