Title

The SUSE operating system must generate audit records for all account creations, modifications, disabling, and termination events that affect /etc/shadow. (Cat II impact)

Discussion

Once an attacker establishes initial access to a system, the attacker often attempts to create a persistent method of reestablishing access. One way to accomplish this is for the attacker to simply create a new account. Auditing of account creation mitigates this risk. To address access requirements, many SUSE operating systems may be integrated with enterprise-level authentication/access/auditing mechanisms that meet or exceed access control policy requirements. Satisfies: SRG-OS-000004-GPOS-00004, SRG-OS-000239-GPOS-00089, SRG-OS-000240-GPOS-00090, SRG-OS-000241-GPOS-00091, SRG-OS-000303-GPOS-00120, SRG-OS-000476-GPOS-00221

Check Content

Verify the SUSE operating system generates an audit record when modifications occur to the "/etc/shadow" file. Check that the following file is being watched by performing the following command on the system rules in "/etc/audit/audit.rules": # sudo grep /etc/shadow /etc/audit/audit.rules -w /etc/shadow -p wa -k account_mod If the command does not return a line, or the line is commented out, this is a finding.

Fix Text

Configure the SUSE operating system to generate an audit record when all modifications to the "/etc/shadow" file occur. Add or update the following rule to "/etc/audit/rules.d/audit.rules": -w /etc/shadow -p wa -k account_mod The audit daemon must be restarted for any changes to take effect. # sudo systemctl restart auditd.service

Additional Identifiers

Rule ID: SV-217207r854109_rule

Vulnerability ID: V-217207

Group Title: SRG-OS-000004-GPOS-00004

Expert Comments

CCIs tied to check.

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