10.12 Do not allow symbolic linking

Information

Symbolic links permit one application to include the libraries from another. This allows for re-use of code but also allows for potential security issues when applications include libraries from other applications to which they should not have access.

Allowing symbolic links makes Tomcat susceptible to directory traversal vulnerability. Also, there is a potential that an application could link to another application to which it should not be linking. On case-insensitive operating systems there is also the threat of source code disclosure.

Solution

In all context.xml set the allowLinking attribute to false :

<Context
...
<Resources ... allowLinking="false" />
...
</Context>

See Also

https://workbench.cisecurity.org/benchmarks/15137

Item Details

Category: CONFIGURATION MANAGEMENT, SYSTEM AND INFORMATION INTEGRITY

References: 800-53|CM-7, 800-53|CM-7(1), 800-53|SI-7, 800-53|SI-7(1), CSCv7|5.1

Plugin: Unix

Control ID: d7c12f9da44fca9830cbdeda30bfc80623caf47cfbe94b117e81b36520e28310