Details

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.

Solution

Perform the following to restrict access to context.xml:

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

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

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.

Supportive Information

The following resource is also helpful.

• https://workbench.cisecurity.org/files/2506

This security hardening control applies to the following category of controls within NIST 800-53: Access Control.This control applies to the following type of system Unix.

References

• 800-53|AC-3
• CSCv6|3.1
• CSCv7|14.6

Source

• Tenable.com/audits