Banner

I made a cool banner using ASCII art and terminal coloring – this doesn’t show up that well in this blog post, so maybe run this script on your own Linux environment. This script also gets some important information about the system, like the OS version, main user, and kernel version.

%%bash


{
version=$(lsb_release -a | grep "Description" | cut -d ":" -f2 | tr -d "	")
} &>/dev/null
user=$(whoami)
kernel=$(uname -r)


echo "Output:"
echo -e "\e[40m
\e[93m                            :             .:                                                                                                          
                           .!           .^5G^.                                                                                                        
                           :Y         ..^?&@Y^..                                                                                                      
                           ~#.            ^!                                                                                                          
                           P@J                                                                                                                        
                         ^G@@@Y.                                                                                                                      
                      :!P@@@@@@#Y~.                                                                                                                   
            .::^~!7?YB&@@@@@@@@@@@&GY?7!~^::..                                                                                                        
                 ...:^!Y#@@@@@@@BJ~:....          .                                                                                                   
                        .?&@@@B~                  ~                                                  .:                                               
                          ^#@P                   :P.                                                 ~?                                               
                           7&.                .:!B@G!:.                                             ^B&!                                              
                           :5             ..:^!Y&@@@&Y!^:..                                   ..:^7G@@@@BJ~::.                                        
                           .7                   .Y@J.                                             .^J&@5~..                                           
                            ^                     Y                                                  7Y                                               
                            .                     ^                                                  .^                                               
                                                  .                                                                                                   
                                                                                                                                                      
                                                                                                                                                      
\e[35m                                       ▄███▄     ▄▄▄▄▀ ▄  █ ▄███▄   █▄▄▄▄ ▄███▄   ██   █                                                              
                                       █▀   ▀ ▀▀▀ █   █   █ █▀   ▀  █  ▄▀ █▀   ▀  █ █  █                                                              
                                       ██▄▄       █   ██▀▀█ ██▄▄    █▀▀▌  ██▄▄    █▄▄█ █                                                              
                                       █▄   ▄▀   █    █   █ █▄   ▄▀ █  █  █▄   ▄▀ █  █ ███▄                                                           
                                       ▀███▀    ▀        █  ▀███▀     █   ▀███▀      █     ▀                                                          
                                                        ▀            ▀              █                                                                 
                                                                                   ▀                                                                  
\e[93m                                                                                                                                                      
                                                                                                                                                      
                                                                                                      ..             .                                
               .:                                                                                     :^             Y~                               
               ~?                                                                                     !!         .:~P@&?:.                            
              ^B&!                                                                                    ?Y            .Y!                               
        ..:^7G@@@@BJ~::.                                                                              B#.            .                                
            .^J&@5~..                                                                               :P@@G:                                            
               7Y                                                                                 :J#@@@@&J:                                          
               .^                                                                         ..::^~!?5B@@@@@@@@@@B5?!~^^:...                             
                            .                                                            ..::^^!7YG&@@@@@@@@&GY7!~^::..                               
                            Y~                                                                    :?#@@@@#?:                .:                        
                        .:~P@&?:.                                                                   .P@@P.                  ~?                        
                           .Y!                                                                        BB                   ^B&!                       
                            .                                                                         ?J             ..:^7G@@@@BJ~::.                 
                                                                                                      ~!                 .^J&@5~..                    
                                                                                                      ::                    7Y                        
                                                                                                      ..                    .^                        
\e[35m                                                 OS: ${version}                                                                                     
                                                 Kernel: ${kernel}                                                                                  
                                                 User: ${user}                                                                             
                                                                                                                                                      
\e[97m                                                                                                                                                      "
Output:

                            :             .:                                                                                                          
                           .!           .^5G^.                                                                                                        
                           :Y         ..^?&@Y^..                                                                                                      
                           ~#.            ^!                                                                                                          
                           P@J                                                                                                                        
                         ^G@@@Y.                                                                                                                      
                      :!P@@@@@@#Y~.                                                                                                                   
            .::^~!7?YB&@@@@@@@@@@@&GY?7!~^::..                                                                                                        
                 ...:^!Y#@@@@@@@BJ~:....          .                                                                                                   
                        .?&@@@B~                  ~                                                  .:                                               
                          ^#@P                   :P.                                                 ~?                                               
                           7&.                .:!B@G!:.                                             ^B&!                                              
                           :5             ..:^!Y&@@@&Y!^:..                                   ..:^7G@@@@BJ~::.                                        
                           .7                   .Y@J.                                             .^J&@5~..                                           
                            ^                     Y                                                  7Y                                               
                            .                     ^                                                  .^                                               
                                                  .                                                                                                   
                                                                                                                                                      
                                                                                                                                                      
                                       ▄███▄     ▄▄▄▄▀ ▄  █ ▄███▄   █▄▄▄▄ ▄███▄   ██   █                                                              
                                       █▀   ▀ ▀▀▀ █   █   █ █▀   ▀  █  ▄▀ █▀   ▀  █ █  █                                                              
                                       ██▄▄       █   ██▀▀█ ██▄▄    █▀▀▌  ██▄▄    █▄▄█ █                                                              
                                       █▄   ▄▀   █    █   █ █▄   ▄▀ █  █  █▄   ▄▀ █  █ ███▄                                                           
                                       ▀███▀    ▀        █  ▀███▀     █   ▀███▀      █     ▀                                                          
                                                        ▀            ▀              █                                                                 
                                                                                   ▀                                                                  
                                                                                                                                                      
                                                                                                                                                      
                                                                                                      ..             .                                
               .:                                                                                     :^             Y~                               
               ~?                                                                                     !!         .:~P@&?:.                            
              ^B&!                                                                                    ?Y            .Y!                               
        ..:^7G@@@@BJ~::.                                                                              B#.            .                                
            .^J&@5~..                                                                               :P@@G:                                            
               7Y                                                                                 :J#@@@@&J:                                          
               .^                                                                         ..::^~!?5B@@@@@@@@@@B5?!~^^:...                             
                            .                                                            ..::^^!7YG&@@@@@@@@&GY7!~^::..                               
                            Y~                                                                    :?#@@@@#?:                .:                        
                        .:~P@&?:.                                                                   .P@@P.                  ~?                        
                           .Y!                                                                        BB                   ^B&!                       
                            .                                                                         ?J             ..:^7G@@@@BJ~::.                 
                                                                                                      ~!                 .^J&@5~..                    
                                                                                                      ::                    7Y                        
                                                                                                      ..                    .^                        
                                                 OS: Ubuntu 22.04.3 LTS                                                                                     
                                                 Kernel: 5.10.16.3-microsoft-standard-WSL2                                                                                  
                                                 User: oddvik                                                                             
                                                                                                                                                      
                                                                                                                                                      

Users

This user auditing script does quite a few things to secure every human user on the system. The reason why I specify “human” is that within Linux there are many “system” users that are used for services and system processes. The only users that are required to be “secured” in this manner are human users, or users that were made to log on and function normally. In the following script I do the following to secure all the human users on the system:

  • Changing the password to something secure
  • Using chage to set the minimum/maximum days for password expiration
  • Changing the login shell to /bin/bash
  • Setting correct ownership on the users’ home directories
%%bash


function successOrFail () {
    if [ $? -eq 0 ]
    then
        # Print the success message if it did work
        echo -e $1
        return 0
    else
        # Print the fail message if it didn't work
        echo -e $2
        return 1
    fi
}

password="!_|0v3_@P_c0mput3r_5c13nc3"
# Get a list of all human users (UID >= 1000)
human_users=$(awk -F: '$3 >= 1000 && $1 != "nobody" {print $1}' /etc/passwd)

# Change passwords for each user
for user in $human_users; do
  echo "Changing password for user: $user"
  echo "$user:$password" | chpasswd
  successOrFail "\033[31;32;1m[SUCCESS]\033[0m Successfully changed password of $user" "\033[31;40;1m[FAIL]\033[0m Unable to change password for $user"
  chage -m 7 -M 90 -W 14 $user
  successOrFail "\033[31;32;1m[SUCCESS]\033[0m Chage settings successfully configured for $user" "\033[31;40;1m[FAIL]\033[0m Unable to configure chage for $user"
  chsh -s /bin/bash $user
  successOrFail "\033[31;32;1m[SUCCESS]\033[0m Successfully configured bash login shell for $user" "\033[31;40;1m[FAIL]\033[0m Unable to configure bash login shell for $user"
  chown $user:$user /home/$user/
  successOrFail "\033[31;32;1m[SUCCESS]\033[0m Successfully configured home dir permissions for $user" "\033[31;40;1m[FAIL]\033[0m Unable to configure home dir permissions for $user"
  fi
done

# Exit with success
exit 0

ChatGPT Review

The provided Bash script aims to perform simple user security tasks on a Linux system for human users with UID greater than or equal to 1000. It changes user passwords, sets chage settings, configures the login shell, and adjusts home directory permissions. Here’s a review of the script:

successOrFail Function:

This function is used to display success or failure messages based on the exit status of the previously executed command. It checks if the exit status is 0 and prints the provided success message ($1) in green color, or else it prints the failure message ($2) in red color. This function provides clear feedback on the success or failure of each command and helps with troubleshooting. Password and User Retrieval:

The password is set to a strong value (!_|0v3_@P_c0mput3r_5c13nc3). The script retrieves a list of human users (UID >= 1000) from the /etc/passwd file using awk. It excludes the user “nobody” from the list. User Operations Loop:

The script iterates through the list of human users obtained in the previous step. For each user: It changes the user’s password using chpasswd. Configures chage settings to require password changes within a specified time frame. Sets the user’s login shell to /bin/bash. Configures the ownership of the user’s home directory to the user. It uses the successOrFail function to provide feedback on the success or failure of each operation. Color Codes:

The script uses ANSI escape codes to display success and failure messages in different colors (green for success and red for failure). This adds visual clarity to the output. Issues and Suggestions:

There is an fi without an associated if condition in the loop, which seems to be an error. You should remove the fi statement. It’s a good practice to include error handling for commands like chpasswd, chage, chsh, and chown. Currently, the script assumes these commands will always succeed. Consider adding some error checking for edge cases (e.g., user does not exist, commands fail for other reasons). Ensure that this script is run with appropriate permissions (usually as root) to perform these user management operations. Overall, the script looks well-structured and provides informative output. However, you may want to add error handling for robustness and fix the extraneous fi statement.