# Cis GCP Cos 6.2.14

> Ensure no users have .rhosts files

- Skill: `cyberstrikeus/cis-gcp-cos-6-2-14` (Agent Skill)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add cyberstrikeus/cis-gcp-cos-6-2-14`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/cyberstrikeus/cis-gcp-cos-6-2-14/raw
- Safety review: PASS (external: skill-scanner PASS, skillspector PASS)
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: DevOps & Infra
- Author: cyberstrikeus (https://skillmd.com/u/cyberstrikeus)
- Updated: 2026-09-17
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/cyberstrikeus/cis-gcp-cos-6-2-14

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# 6.2.14 Ensure no users have .rhosts files (Automated)

## Description

While no `.rhosts` files are shipped by default, users can easily create them.

## Rationale

This action is only meaningful if `.rhosts` support is permitted in the file `/etc/pam.conf`. Even though the `.rhosts` files are ineffective if support is disabled in `/etc/pam.conf`, they may have been brought over from other systems and could contain information useful to an attacker for those other systems.

## Audit Procedure

Run the following script and verify no results are returned:

```bash
#!/bin/bash

grep -E -v '^(root|halt|sync|shutdown)' /etc/passwd | awk -F: '($7 != "'"$(which nologin)"'" && $7 != "/bin/false") { print $1 " " $6 }' | while read user dir; do
  if [ ! -d "$dir" ]; then
    echo "The home directory ($dir) of user $user does not exist."
  else
    for file in $dir/.rhosts; do
      if [ ! -h "$file" -a -f "$file" ]; then
        echo ".rhosts file in $dir"
      fi
    done
  fi
done
```

## Expected Result

No results should be returned.

## Remediation

Making global modifications to users' files without alerting the user community can result in unexpected outages and unhappy users. Therefore, it is recommended that a monitoring policy be established to report user `.rhosts` files and determine the action to be taken in accordance with site policy.

## Additional Information

On some distributions the `/sbin/nologin` should be replaced with `/usr/sbin/nologin`.

## CIS Controls

| Controls Version | Control                                             | IG 1 | IG 2 | IG 3 |
| ---------------- | --------------------------------------------------- | ---- | ---- | ---- |
| v8               | 3.11 Encrypt Sensitive Data at Rest                 |      | x    | x    |
| v7               | 16.4 Encrypt or Hash all Authentication Credentials |      | x    | x    |

## Profile

- Level 2 - Server