Apache HTTP Server
TMA-APACHE-3.12
Ensure Group Write Access for the Document Root Directories and Files Is Properly Restricted
Description
Group permissions on Apache Document Root directories $DOCROOT may need to be writable by an authorized group such as development, support, or a production content management tool. However, it is important that the Apache group used to run the server does not have write access to any directories or files in the document root. Counts files under every DocumentRoot that belong to the Apache group (Group directive) and are group-writable; expects 0. Reads the main configuration (APACHE_CONF overrides; default /etc/apache2/apache2.conf, /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf or /usr/local/apache2/conf/httpd.conf) and every Include/IncludeOptional file. CIS marks this recommendation Manual; the automated check implements its audit procedure.
How it is checked
Audit method: Shell command
c=${APACHE_CONF:-}; if [ -z "$c" ]; then for f in /etc/apache2/apache2.conf /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf /usr/local/apache2/conf/httpd.conf /etc/apache2/httpd.conf; do [ -f "$f" ] && { c=$f; break; }; done; fi; [ -r "$c" ] || exit 1; R=$(awk 'tolower($1)=="serverroot"{v=$2; gsub(/"/,"",v); print v; exit}' "$c"); [ -n "$R" ] || R=$(dirname "$c"); shopt -s nocasematch; inc(){ local p g l; [ ${#FUNCNAME[@]} -lt 16 ] || return 0; p=$1; case $p in /*) ;; *) p=$R/$p;; esac; [ -d "$p" ] && p="$p/*"; for g in $p; do [ -f "$g" ] || continue; while IFS= read -r l || [ -n "$l" ]; do if [[ $l =~ ^[[:space:]]*include(optional)?[[:space:]]+\"?([^\"[:space:]]+) ]]; then inc "${BASH_REMATCH[2]}"; else printf '%s\n' "$l"; fi; done < "$g"; done; }; cfg=$(inc "$c" | sed -e 's/^[[:space:]]*//' -e '/^#/d' -e '/^$/d'); shopt -u nocasematch; ev(){ case $1 in '${'*'}') local n=${1#??}; n=${n%?}; local v; v=$(sed -n "s/^[[:space:]]*export[[:space:]]*$n=//p" "${APACHE_ENVVARS:-/etc/apache2/envvars}" 2>/dev/null | tail -n1 | tr -d "\"'"); printf '%s\n' "${v:-$1}";; *) printf '%s\n' "$1";; esac; }; g=$(ev "$(printf '%s\n' "$cfg" | awk 'tolower($1)=="group"{v=$2} END{print v}')"); getent group "$g" >/dev/null || { echo noncompliant; exit 0; }; n=0; while IFS= read -r dr; do dr=${dr//\"/}; [ -d "$dr" ] || continue; k=$(find -L "$dr" -group "$g" -perm /g=w -print 2>/dev/null | wc -l); n=$((n+k)); done < <(printf '%s\n' "$cfg" | awk 'tolower($1)=="documentroot"{print $2}'); echo $n- Expected output
0
How it is fixed
Fix method: Guidance or infrastructure patch
chmod -R g-w <DocumentRoot> for files owned by the Apache group.
Properties
- Operating systems
- Any
- Tags
- apacheaccounts
- Reference
- CIS Apache HTTP Server 2.4 Benchmark v2.4.0 - 3.12 Ensure Group Write Access for the Document Root Directories and Files Is Properly Restricted
Check this host
Run this on a machine you are allowed to audit. The scan is read-only.
tmaegis scan --target apache