user resource
Use the user Chef InSpec audit resource to test user profiles of a single, known or expected local user, including the groups to which the user belongs, the frequency of password changes, and the directory paths to home and shell.
Availability
Install
This resource is distributed with Chef InSpec.
Version
This resource is available from InSpec version 1.0.0.
Syntax
A user resource block declares a user name and then one (or more) matchers.
describe user('root') do
it { should exist }
its('uid') { should eq 1234 }
its('gid') { should eq 1234 }
its('group') { should eq 'root' }
its('groups') { should eq ['root', 'other']}
its('home') { should eq '/root' }
its('shell') { should eq '/bin/bash' }
its('mindays') { should eq 0 }
its('maxdays') { should eq 90 }
its('warndays') { should eq 8 }
its('passwordage') { should eq 355 }
its('maxbadpasswords') { should eq nil } // Only valid on Windows OS
its('badpasswordattempts') { should eq 0 }
its('lastlogin') { should eq nil } // Only valid on Windows OS
end
Where
('root')is the user to be tested.it { should exist }tests if the user exists.gid,group,groups,home,maxdays,mindays,shell,uid,warndaysยด,passwordage,maxbadpasswords,badpasswordattempts, andlastloginare valid matchers for this resource.
Properties
gid
The gid property tests the group identifier.
its('gid') { should eq 1234 }
Where
1234represents the user identifier.
The gid option is only available on Linux and returns nil for Windows OS (Operating System).
group
The group property tests the group to which the user belongs.
its('group') { should eq 'root' }
where
rootrepresents the group.
The group option is only available on Linux and returns nil for Windows OS.
groups
The groups property tests two (or more) groups to which the user belongs.
its('groups') { should eq ['root', 'other'] }
home
The home property tests the home directory path for the user.
its('home') { should eq '/root' }
maxdays
The maxdays property tests the maximum number of days between password changes.
its('maxdays') { should eq 99 }
where
99represents the maximum number of days.
maximum_days_between_password_change
The maximum_days_between_password_change property is equivalent to maxdays. This property tests the maximum number of days between password changes.
its('maximum_days_between_password_change') { should eq 99 }
where
99represents the maximum number of days.
mindays
The mindays property tests the minimum number of days between password changes.
its('mindays') { should eq 0 }
where
0represents the minimum number of days.
minimum_days_between_password_change
The minimum_days_between_password_change property is equivalent to mindays.
its('minimum_days_between_password_change') { should eq 0 }
where
0represents the minimum number of days.
shell
The shell property tests the path to the default shell for the user.
its('shell') { should eq '/bin/bash' }
uid
The uid property tests the user identifier.
its('uid') { should eq 1234 }
where
1234represents the user identifier.
warndays
The warndays property tests the number of days a user is warned before a password should be changed.
its('warndays') { should eq 5 }
where
5represents the number of days a user is warned.
passwordage
The passwordage property tests the number of days a user changed the password.
its('passwordage') { should_be <= 365 }
where
365represents the number of days since the last password change.
maxbadpasswords
The maxbadpasswords property tests the count of maximum number of incorrect password settings for a specific user.
its('maxbadpasswords') { should eq 7 }
where
7is the count of maximum incorrect password settings.
badpasswordattempts
The badpasswordattempts property tests the count of incorrect password attempts for a user.
its('badpasswordattempts') { should eq 0 }
where
0is the count of incorrect passwords for a user.
These settings reset to 0 depending on your operating system configuration. For Linux-based operating systems, it relies on lastb, and for Windows OS, it uses information stored for the user object.
lastlogin
The lastlogin property tests the last login date for a specific user.
its('lastlogin') { should eq nil }
The nil value means this user has never logged in.
encrypted_password
The encrypted_password property allows tests against the hashed password stored in shadow files on Unix systems with getent utility.
its('encrypted_password') { should eq "!" }
The
!value means the user cannot log in to the system using password authentication.
Examples
The following examples show how to use this Chef InSpec audit resource.
Verify available users for the MySQL server
describe user('ROOT') do
it { should exist }
its('uid') { should eq 0 }
its('groups') { should eq ['ROOT'] }
end
describe user('MYSQL') do
it { should_not exist }
end
Test users on multiple platforms
The nginx user is typical www-data, but it’s nginx on CentOS. The following example shows how to test for the nginx user with a single test but accounting for all platforms.
web_user = 'www-data'
web_user = 'nginx' if os[:family] == 'centos'
describe user(web_user) do
it { should exist }
end
Matchers
For a full list of available matchers, see our Universal Matchers page.This resource has the following special matchers.
exist
The exist matcher tests if the named user exists:
it { should exist }
have_home_directory
The have_home_directory matcher tests if the given path is the home directory path. This matcher is similar to home property.
it { should have_home_directory '/home/ubuntu' }
have_login_shell
The have_login_shell matcher tests if the given path to shell is the default shell for the user. This matcher is similar to shell property.
it { should have_login_shell '/bin/bash' }
have_uid
The have_uid matcher tests if the given user identifier is true. This matcher is similar to uid property.
it { should have_uid 1234 }
where
1234represents the user identifier.
belong_to_primary_group
The belong_to_primary_group matcher tests if the given group is the primary group for the user. This matcher is similar to group property.
it { should belong_to_primary_group 'ubuntu' }
belong_to_group
The belong_to_group matcher tests if the given group is a valid group for the user. This group can be either primary or any other group.
it { should belong_to_group 'sudo' }
have_authorized_keys
The have_authorized_keys matcher tests if the given key is valid as part of the authorized_keys file.
it { should have_authorized_key 'ssh-ed25519 50m3r4nd0m57r1ng mockkey' }