May 19th, 2012
How to find and Repair Unowned Files
How to find and Repair Unowned Files
The following command will discover and print any files on local partitions which do not belong to a valid user and a valid group. Run it once for each local partition PART:
If this command prints any results, investigate each reported file and either assign it to an appropriate user and group or remove it.
Unowned files are not directly exploitable, but they are generally a sign that something is wrong with some system process. They may be caused by an intruder, by incorrect software installation or incomplete software removal, or by failure to remove all files belonging to a deleted account. The files should be repaired so that they will not cause problems when accounts are created in the future, and the problem which led to unowned files should be discovered and addressed.
