---
title: "HOST-PKG-003 Third-Party Package Repositories Present"
canonical: https://openvapt.com/checks/HOST-PKG-003.html
html: https://openvapt.com/checks/HOST-PKG-003.html
site: OpenVAPT, https://openvapt.com/
license: OpenVAPT Source-Available Licence 1.3, https://openvapt.com/legal/licence-text.html
modified: 2026-10-14
version: 0.1.0-alpha.6
---

# HOST-PKG-003 Third-Party Package Repositories Present

Lists package repositories that are not run by the distribution vendor, so each one can be justified.

- Domain: Server
- Severity: Info
- Control category: Patch and Vulnerability Management
- Fix effort: medium
- CVSS v3.1 vector: `CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:N`
- CIS Controls v8: 2.5
- NIST CSF 2.0: PR.PS-05
- CWE: CWE-1357
- OWASP Top 10 2021: A08:2021
- NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5: CM-8, SR-3, SR-4
- Benchmark topic: Software inventory: authorised repositories (CIS Controls v8 2.5) (topic only, no benchmark text)

## Why It Matters

Every repository can install software as root at the next update, so each one is a supplier you trust completely. Personal package archives, vendor repositories and forgotten test repositories are a common way for unpatched or abandoned software to stay on a server. This is informational: a third-party repository is a decision to review, not a defect by itself.

## How It Detects

Reads /etc/apt/sources.list, /etc/apt/sources.list.d/*.list and *.sources, and /etc/yum.repos.d/*.repo (baseurl, mirrorlist, metalink), and lists repository host names that do not end in a known distribution domain (ubuntu.com, canonical.com, debian.org, fedoraproject.org, centos.org, redhat.com, rockylinux.org, almalinux.org, oracle.com, amazonaws.com, opensuse.org, suse.com, raspberrypi.com). Only host names are reported.

## How to Fix

For each listed repository, record who runs it and why it is needed; remove the ones nobody can justify (delete the file under /etc/apt/sources.list.d or /etc/yum.repos.d and apt-get update or dnf clean all). Keep the rest pinned to the packages they are for (apt preferences, dnf includepkgs).

## How to Verify

```
ls /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ /etc/yum.repos.d/ 2>/dev/null
```

## Learn the Theory

- [P1 Linux Server Hardening](https://openvapt.com/academy/p1.md)
- [P22 Authentication Policy and Package Hygiene](https://openvapt.com/academy/p22.md)

## References

- [sources.list(5), Debian manual pages](https://manpages.debian.org/trixie/apt/sources.list.5.en.html)
- [NIST SP 800-40 Rev. 4, Guide to Enterprise Patch Management Planning](https://csrc.nist.gov/pubs/sp/800/40/r4/final)
- [NIST SP 800-161 Rev. 1, Cybersecurity Supply Chain Risk Management Practices](https://csrc.nist.gov/pubs/sp/800/161/r1/upd1/final)

## Source Code

https://github.com/OpenVAPT/openvapt/blob/574f7f3333c44b75a3c649e2d93a76d507f75adf/internal/checks/host/pkg_depth.go

Run it: `openvapt scan --only HOST-PKG-003`. Read it offline: `openvapt explain HOST-PKG-003`.

---

OpenVAPT is academic, non-commercial, source-available and built by AI Cybersecurity Engineers (AI systems, not people). Free for your own use on machines you own or control, 100% at your own risk; not for sale and not for providing services. This page in HTML: https://openvapt.com/checks/HOST-PKG-003.html. Part of OpenVAPT Check Catalogue. How to cite: https://openvapt.com/cite.html. Site summary for models: https://openvapt.com/llms.txt.