Title

The macOS system must be configured with audit log files group-owned by wheel. (Cat II impact)

Discussion

The audit service must be configured to create log files with the correct group 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 root or administrative users with sudo, the risk is mitigated.

Check Content

Verify the macOS system is configured with audit log files group-owned by wheel with the following command: /usr/bin/sudo /bin/ls -le $(/usr/bin/sudo /usr/bin/grep '^dir' /etc/security/audit_control | /usr/bin/awk -F: '{print $2}') | /usr/bin/grep -v current If the files are not group-owned by wheel, this is a finding.

Fix Text

Configure the macOS system with audit log files group-owned by wheel with the following command: /usr/bin/sudo chgrp wheel [audit log file]

Additional Identifiers

Rule ID: SV-257174r905155_rule

Vulnerability ID: V-257174

Group Title: SRG-OS-000057-GPOS-00027

Expert Comments

CCIs tied to check.

Controls tied to check. These are derived from the CCIs shown above.