SECURITY.CONF(5)

NAME
security.conf - daily security check configuration file

DESCRIPTION
The security.conf file specifies which of the standard /etc/security services are performed. The /etc/security script is run, by default, every night from /etc/daily, on a NetBSD system, if configured do to so from /etc/daily.conf.

The variables described below can be set to "NO" to disable the test:

check_passwd
    This checks the /etc/master.passwd file for inconsistencies.

check_group
    This checks the /etc/group file for inconsistencies.

check_rootdotfiles
    This checks the root users startup files for sane settings of $PATH and umask. This test is not fail safe and any warning generated from this should be checked for correctness.

check_ftpusers
    This checks that the correct users are in the /etc/ftpusers file.

check_aliases
    This checks for security problems in the /etc/mail/aliases file. For backward compatibility, /etc/aliases will be checked as well if exists.

check_rhosts
    This checks for system and user rhosts files with "+" in them.

check_homes
    This checks that home directories are owned by the correct user, and have appropriate permissions.

check_varmail
    This checks that the correct user owns mail in /var/mail, and that the mail box has the right permissions.

check_nfs
    This checks that the /etc/exports file does not export filesystems to the world.

check_devices
    This checks for changes to devices and setuid files.

check_mtree
    This runs mtree(8) to ensure that the system is installed correctly. The following configuration files are checked:

    /etc/mtree/special
        Default files to check.

    /etc/mtree/special.local
        Local site additions and overrides.

    /etc/mtree/DIR.secure
        Specification for the directory DIR.

check_disklabels
    Backup text copies of the disklabels of available disk drives into /var/backups/work/disklabel.XXX, and display any differences in those and the previous copies as per check_changelist below. If fdisk(8) is available on the current platform, the output of /sbin/fdisk for each available disk drive is stored in /var/backups/work/fdisk.XXX, and any differences displayed as per the disklabels.

check_pkgs
    This stores a list of all installed pkgs into /var/backups/work/pkgs and checks it for any changes.

check_changelist
    This determines a list of files from the contents of /etc/changelist, and the output of mtree -D for /etc/mtree/special and /etc/mtree/special.local. For each file in the list it compares the files with their backups in /var/backups/file.current and /var/backups/file.backup, and displays any differences found. The following mtree(8) tags modify how files are determined from /etc/mtree/special and /etc/mtree/special.local:

    exclude
        The entry is ignored; no backups are made and the differences are not displayed. This includes dynamic or binary files such as /var/run/utmp.

    nodiff
        The entry is backed up but the differences are not displayed because the contents of the file are sensitive. This includes files such as /etc/master.passwd.

The variables described below can be set to modify the tests:

check_homes_permit_usergroups
    During the check_homes phase, allow the checked files to be group-writable if the group name is the same as the username.

check_devices_ignore_fstypes
    Lists filesystem types to ignore during the check_devices phase. Prefixing the type with a ‘’! inverts the match. For example, ‘procfs !local’ will ignore ‘procfs’ type filesystems and filesystems that are not ‘local’.

check_devices_ignore_paths
    Lists pathnames to ignore during the check_devices phase. Prefixing the path with a ‘’! inverts the match. For example, ‘/tftp’ will ignore paths under /tftp while ‘!/home’ will ignore paths that are not under /home.

check_mtree_follow_symlinks
    During the check_mtree phase, instruct mtree to follow symbolic links. Please note, this may cause the check_mtree phase to report errors for entries for these symbolic links (i.e. of type=link in the mtree specification) as they will always appear to be plain files for the purposes of the check. /etc/mtree/special.local may be used to override the checks for the affected links.

check_passwd_nowarn_shells
    If check_passwd is enabled, most warnings will be suppressed for entries whose shells are listed in this space-separated list. This is of particular value when those shells are not in /etc/shells.

check_passwd_nowarn_users
    If check_passwd is enabled, suppress warnings for these users.

check_passwd_permit_nonalpha
    If check_passwd is enabled, do not warn about login names which use non-alphanumeric characters.

check_passwd_permit_star
    If check_passwd is enabled, do not warn about password fields set to “*”. Note that the use of password fields such as “*ssh” is encouraged, instead.

max_grouplen
    If check_group is enabled, this determines the maximum permitted length of group names.

max_loginlen
    If check_passwd is enabled, this determines the maximum permitted length of login names.

backup_dir
    Change the backup directory from /var/backup.

diff_options
    Specify the options passed to diff(1) when it is invoked to show changes made to system files. Defaults to “-u”, for unified-format context-diffs.

pkgdb_dir
    Change the pkg database directory from /var/db/pkg when check_pkgs is enabled.

backup_uses_rcs
    Use rcs(1) for maintaining backup copies of files noted in check_devices, check_disklabels, check_pkgs, and check_changelist instead of just keeping a current copy and a backup copy.

FILES
/etc/defaults/security.conf
    defaults for /etc/security.conf
/etc/security
    daily security check script
/etc/security.conf
    daily security check configuration
/etc/security.local
    local site additions to /etc/security

SEE ALSO
daily.conf(5)

HISTORY
The security.conf file appeared in NetBSD 1.3. The check_disklabels functionality was added in NetBSD 1.4. The backup_uses_rcs and check_pkgs features were added in NetBSD 1.6. diff_options appeared in NetBSD 2.0; prior to that, traditional-format (context free) diffs were generated.