Information
This change removes any '.' or '::' entries from /etc/environment. If a '.' or '::' is present the current working directory is included in the default search path.
Rationale:
Any '.' and '::' will be removed from /etc/environment. This means that any harmful programs placed in common PATH locations, would never be automatically executed. All directories must be explicitly defined within the PATH variable.
Solution
Examine PATH in /etc/environment to see if it contains any '.' or '::' entries:
grep '^PATH=' /etc/environment |awk '/((:[ t]*:)|(:[ t]*$)|(^[t]*:)|(^.:)|(:.$)|(:.:))/'
If the command above yields output, remove the '.' and '::' entries from:
vi /etc/environment
Default Value:
Dot present