CS0-003 Vulnerability Management Practice Question
A company uses Lynis for compliance scanning on Linux servers. During a scan, Lynis reports that the system has world-writable files in critical directories. Which CIS Benchmark recommendation does this finding relate to?
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Ensure no world-writable files exist
CIS Benchmarks include recommendations to restrict file permissions, such as ensuring no world-writable files exist in system directories.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Ensure no world-writable files exist
Why this is correct
This finding maps directly to the CIS Benchmark recommendation that requires no world-writable files to exist in system directories, since files writable by any user create a path for unprivileged accounts or compromised processes to modify binaries, configuration files, or scripts that later run with elevated privileges.
- ✗
Ensure system is configured to forward logs to a central server
Why it's wrong here
This CIS control governs whether syslog or rsyslog is configured to forward events to a centralized logging server for retention and correlation. It addresses log management and incident visibility, not filesystem permission issues like world-writable files.
- ✗
Ensure permissions on /etc/shadow are configured
Why it's wrong here
This control specifically governs the ownership and permission bits, typically 000 or 640 and root-owned, on the /etc/shadow password hash file, a narrowly scoped file-permission check distinct from the broader scan for any world-writable file across critical directories.
- ✗
Ensure separate partition exists for /tmp
Why it's wrong here
World-writable files in critical directories concern file and directory permissions, addressed by recommendations such as ensuring no world-writable files exist, not by partitioning. It is tempting because /tmp is a common location for such files, but the separate-partition recommendation covers mount isolation and nodev/nosuid options.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Container Image Vulnerability Scanning
Key term
Compliance
Compliance is the process of ensuring that an organization follows laws, regulations, standards, and internal policies that apply to its operations and data handling.
Key term
General Data Protection Regulation
A European Union law that gives individuals control over their personal data and sets strict rules for how organizations collect, store, and process that data.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This CS0-004 practice question is part of Courseiva's free CompTIA certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the CS0-004 exam.