Title

Access to the cron utility must be controlled using the cron.allow and/or cron.deny file(s). (Cat II impact)

Discussion

The cron facility allows users to execute recurring jobs on a regular and unattended basis. The cron.allow file designates accounts allowed to enter and execute jobs using the cron facility. If neither cron.allow nor cron.deny exists, then any account may use the cron facility. This may open the facility up for abuse by system intruders and malicious users.

Check Content

Check for the existence of the cron.allow and cron.deny files. # ls -lL /etc/cron.d/cron.allow # ls -lL /etc/cron.d/cron.deny If neither file exists, this is a finding.

Fix Text

Create /etc/cron.d/cron.allow and/or /etc/cron.d/cron.deny with appropriate content.

Additional Identifiers

Rule ID: SV-226612r603265_rule

Vulnerability ID: V-226612

Group Title: SRG-OS-000480

Expert Comments

CCIs tied to check.

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