Title

AIX time synchronization configuration file must be group-owned by bin, or system. (Cat II impact)

Discussion

A synchronized system clock is critical for the enforcement of time-based policies and the correlation of logs and audit records with other systems. If an illicit time source is used for synchronization, the integrity of system logs and the security of the system could be compromised. If the configuration files controlling time synchronization are not owned by a system group, unauthorized modifications could result in the failure of time synchronization.

Check Content

Check "/etc/ntp.conf" file group ownership: # ls -al /etc/ntp.conf The above command should yield the following output: -rw-r----- 1 root system 993 Aug 25 18:26 /etc/ntp.conf If the file is not group-owned by "system", this is a finding.

Fix Text

Change the group owner of the files in "/etc/news" to "system" using: # chgrp system /etc/ntp.conf

Additional Identifiers

Rule ID: SV-215273r508663_rule

Vulnerability ID: V-215273

Group Title: SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227

Expert Comments

CCIs tied to check.

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