APPL-15-001012 The macOS system must configure audit log files to be owned by root.
All changes in this version
Maps to AU-9 via CCI-000162, CCI-000163, CCI-000164, CCI-001493, CCI-001494, CCI-001495
Title
The macOS system must configure audit log files to be owned by root.
Control
Verify the macOS system is configured with audit log files owned by root with the following command: /bin/ls -n $(/usr/bin/grep '^dir' /etc/security/audit_control | /usr/bin/awk -F: '{print $2}') | /usr/bin/awk '{s+=$3} END {print s}' If the result is not "0", this is a finding.
Discussion
Audit log files must be owned by root. The audit service must be configured to create log files with the correct ownership to prevent normal users from reading audit logs. Audit logs contain sensitive data about the system and users. If log files are set to be readable and writable only by system administrators, the risk is mitigated. Satisfies: SRG-OS-000057-GPOS-00027, SRG-OS-000058-GPOS-00028, SRG-OS-000059-GPOS-00029, SRG-OS-000256-GPOS-00097, SRG-OS-000257-GPOS-00098, SRG-OS-000258-GPOS-00099
Related controls
CCI-000162, CCI-000163, CCI-000164, CCI-001493, CCI-001494, CCI-001495
Fix
Configure the macOS system with audit log files owned by root with the following command: /usr/sbin/chown -R root /var/audit/*