V-257237

Discussion

System logs must only be readable by root or admin users. System logs frequently contain sensitive information that could be used by an attacker. Setting the correct owner mitigates this risk. Some system log files are controlled by "newsyslog" and "aslmanager".

Check Content

Verify the macOS system is configured with system log files owned by root or a service account and group-owned by wheel or admin with the commands below. 

These commands must be run from inside "/var/log".

/usr/bin/sudo /usr/bin/stat -f '%Su:%Sg:%N' $(/usr/bin/grep -v '^#' /etc/newsyslog.conf | /usr/bin/awk '{ print $1 }') 2> /dev/null

/usr/bin/sudo /usr/bin/stat -f '%Su:%Sg:%N' $(/usr/bin/grep -e '^>' /etc/asl.conf /etc/asl/* | /usr/bin/awk '{ print $2 }') 2> /dev/null

If there are any system log files that are not owned by "root" or a service account and group-owned by "wheel" or "admin", this is a finding.