Title

The SUSE operating system must generate audit records for all account creations, modifications, disabling, and termination events that affect /etc/group. (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-000463-GPOS-00207, SRG-OS-000476-GPOS-00221

Check Content

Verify the SUSE operating system generates an audit record when modifications occur to the "/etc/group" file. Check that the file is being audited by performing the following command: > sudo auditctl -l | grep -w '/etc/group' -w /etc/group -p wa -k account_mod If the command does not return a line, this is a finding. Notes: The "-k" allows for specifying an arbitrary identifier. The string following "-k" does not need to match the example output above.

Fix Text

Configure the SUSE operating system to generate an audit record when all modifications to the "/etc/group" file occur. Add or update the following rule to "/etc/audit/rules.d/audit.rules": -w /etc/group -p wa -k account_mod To reload the rules file, restart the audit daemon > sudo systemctl restart auditd.service or issue the following command: > sudo augenrules --load

Additional Identifiers

Rule ID: SV-234900r854217_rule

Vulnerability ID: V-234900

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.