cis-tomcat8-v110-4-10

name	cis-tomcat8-v110-4.10
description	Restrict access to Tomcat context.xml
category	cis-tomcat
version	1.1.0
author	cyberstrike-official
tags	["cis","tomcat","linux","java","configuration","file-permissions"]
cis_id	4.10
cis_benchmark	CIS Apache Tomcat 8 Benchmark v1.1.0
tech_stack	["linux","tomcat","java"]
cwe_ids	[]
chains_with	[]
prerequisites	[]
severity_boost	{}

4.10 Restrict access to Tomcat context.xml (Automated)

Profile Applicability

• Level 1

Description

The context.xml file is loaded by all web applications and sets certain configuration options. It is recommended that access to this file properly protect from unauthorized changes.

Rationale

Restricting access to this file will prevent local users from maliciously or inadvertently altering Tomcat's security policy.

Audit Procedure

Perform the following to determine if the ownership and permissions on $CATALINA_HOME/conf/context.xml care securely configured.

# cd $CATALINA_HOME/conf
# find context.xml -follow -maxdepth 0 \( -perm /o+rwx,g+rwx,u+x -o ! -user tomcat_admin -o ! -group tomcat \) -ls

The above command should not produce any output.

Remediation

Perform the following to restrict access to context.xml:

1. Set the ownership of the $CATALINA_HOME/conf/context.xml to tomcat_admin:tomcat.

# chown tomcat_admin:tomcat $CATALINA_HOME/conf/context.xml

2. Set the permissions for the $CATALINA_HOME/conf/context.xml to 600.

# chmod 600 $CATALINA_HOME/conf/context.xml

Default Value

The default permissions of context.xml are 600.

References

None

CIS Controls

Controls Version: v8

Control: 3.3 Configure Data Access Control Lists

Configure data access control lists based on a user's need to know. Apply data access control lists, also known as access permissions, to local and remote file systems, databases, and applications.

IG 1: • IG 2: • IG 3: •

Controls Version: v7

Control: 14.6 Protect Information through Access Control Lists

Protect all information stored on systems with file system, network share, claims, application, or database specific access control lists. These controls will enforce the principle that only authorized individuals should have access to the information based on their need to access the information as a part of their responsibilities.