Title

The Ubuntu operating system must record time stamps for audit records that can be mapped to Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) or Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). (Cat II impact)

Discussion

If time stamps are not consistently applied and there is no common time reference, it is difficult to perform forensic analysis. Time stamps generated by the Ubuntu operating system include date and time. Time is commonly expressed in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), a modern continuation of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), or local time with an offset from UTC.

Check Content

The time zone must be configured to use Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) or Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). To verify run the following command. # sudo timedatectl status | grep -i "time zone" Time zone: UTC (UTC, +0000) If "Time zone" is not set to UTC or GMT, this is a finding.

Fix Text

To configure the system time zone to use Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) or Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), run the following command replacing [ZONE] with UTC or GMT. # sudo timedatectl set-timezone [ZONE]

Additional Identifiers

Rule ID: SV-215118r610931_rule

Vulnerability ID: V-215118

Group Title: SRG-OS-000359-GPOS-00146

Expert Comments

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