Security

Does Splunk Forwarder need an interactive login?

danielteachesit
New Member

All, 

I've noticed by default that Splunk Forwarder gives itself /bin/bash  in /etc/passwd. 

e.g.

splunk:x:1001:1001:Splunk Server:/opt/splunkforwarder:/bin/bash

I changed it to the below and restarted:

splunk:x:1001:1001:Splunk Server:/opt/splunkforwarder:/sbin/nologin

Best I can tell there was no impact. Scripted inputs are working as it the monitor stanza's. 

Is there any reason I should leave Splunk user with a Shell? 

 

thanks!

Labels (1)
0 Karma

gcusello
Esteemed Legend

Hi @danielteachesit,

the splunk user, assigned as owner to Splunk Universal Forwarders, doesn't need the Linux shell.

I usually disable it in my production installation.

Ciao.

Giuseppe

0 Karma

isoutamo
SplunkTrust
SplunkTrust

You should also lock splunk user not only set shell to nologin. If/when need to use e.g. btool to check what those configurations are, just use "sudo -usplunk bash" command to get shell.

0 Karma

richgalloway
SplunkTrust
SplunkTrust

There is no need for the Splunk account to have a shell assigned to it.

---
If this reply helps you, Karma would be appreciated.
0 Karma
Get Updates on the Splunk Community!

Unify Your SecOps with Splunk Mission Control

In today’s post, I'm excited to share some recent Splunk Mission Control innovations. With Splunk Mission ...

Data Preparation Made Easy: SPL2 for Edge Processor

By now, you may have heard the exciting news that Edge Processor, the easy-to-use Splunk data preparation tool ...

Introducing Edge Processor: Next Gen Data Transformation

We get it - not only can it take a lot of time, money and resources to get data into Splunk, but it also takes ...