Description

The talk package contains the client program for the Internet talk protocol, which allows the user to chat with other users on different systems. Talk is a communication program which copies lines from one terminal to the terminal of another user. The talk package can be removed with the following command:

$ apt-get remove talk

Rationale

The talk software presents a security risk as it uses unencrypted protocols for communications. Removing the talk package decreases the risk of the accidental (or intentional) activation of talk client program.

Remediation

Shell script

The following script can be run on the host to remediate the issue.

#!/bin/bash

# CAUTION: This remediation script will remove talk
# from the system, and may remove any packages
# that depend on talk. Execute this
# remediation AFTER testing on a non-production
# system!


DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive apt-get remove -y "talk"

Ansible playbook

The following playbook can be run with Ansible to remediate the issue.

- name: 'Uninstall talk Package: Ensure talk is removed'
  ansible.builtin.package:
    name: talk
    state: absent
  tags:
  - PCI-DSSv4-2.2
  - PCI-DSSv4-2.2.4
  - disable_strategy
  - low_complexity
  - low_disruption
  - medium_severity
  - no_reboot_needed
  - package_talk_removed