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← Back to Canonical Ubuntu 18.04 LTS Security Technical Implementation Guide

V-219234

CAT II (Medium)

The Ubuntu operating system must be configured so that audit configuration files are not write-accessible by unauthorized users.

Rule ID

SV-219234r958444_rule

STIG

Canonical Ubuntu 18.04 LTS Security Technical Implementation Guide

Version

V2R15

CCIs

CCI-000171

Discussion

Without the capability to restrict which roles and individuals can select which events are audited, unauthorized personnel may be able to prevent the auditing of critical events. Misconfigured audits may degrade the system's performance by overwhelming the audit log. Misconfigured audits may also make it more difficult to establish, correlate, and investigate the events relating to an incident or identify those responsible for one.

Check Content

Verify that "/etc/audit/audit.rules", "/etc/audit/rules.d/*" and "/etc/audit/auditd.conf" files have a mode of 0640 or less permissive by using the following command:

# sudo ls -al /etc/audit/ /etc/audit/rules.d/

/etc/audit/:

drwxr-x--- 3 root root 4096 Nov 25 11:02 .

drwxr-xr-x 130 root root 12288 Dec 19 13:42 ..

-rw-r----- 1 root root 804 Nov 25 11:01 auditd.conf

-rw-r----- 1 root root 9128 Dec 27 09:56 audit.rules

-rw-r----- 1 root root 9373 Dec 27 09:56 audit.rules.prev

-rw-r----- 1 root root 127 Feb 7 2018 audit-stop.rules

drwxr-x--- 2 root root 4096 Dec 27 09:56 rules.d

/etc/audit/rules.d/:

drwxr-x--- 2 root root 4096 Dec 27 09:56 .

drwxr-x--- 3 root root 4096 Nov 25 11:02 ..

-rw-r----- 1 root root 10357 Dec 27 09:56 stig.rules

If "/etc/audit/audit.rule","/etc/audit/rules.d/*" or "/etc/audit/auditd.conf" file have a mode more permissive than "0640", this is a finding.

Fix Text

Configure "/etc/audit/audit.rules", "/etc/audit/rules.d/*" and "/etc/audit/auditd.conf" files to have a mode of 0640 by using the following command:

# chmod -R 0640 /etc/audit/audit*.{rules,conf} /etc/audit/rules.d/*

Note: The "root" account must be used to edit any files in the /etc/audit and /etc/audit/rules.d/ directories.