RHEL 9 must audit any script or executable called by cron as root or by any privileged user.

Documentable No

Rule ID SV-279936r1156361_rule

CCI References

CCI-000172

Discussion

Any script or executable called by cron as root or by any privileged user must be owned by that user. It must also have the permissions 755 or more restrictive and should have no extended rights that allow any nonprivileged user to modify the script or executable.

Check Procedure

Verify RHEL 9 is configured to audit the execution of any system call made by cron as root or by any privileged user.

$ sudo auditctl -l | grep /etc/cron.d
-w /etc/cron.d -p wa -k cronjobs

$ sudo auditctl -l | grep /var/spool/cron
-w /var/spool/cron -p wa -k cronjobs

If either of these commands do not return the expected output, or the lines are commented out, this is a finding.

Fix Action

Configure RHEL 9 to audit the execution of any system call made by cron as root or by any privileged user.

Add or update the following file system rules to "/etc/audit/rules.d/audit.rules":
-w /etc/cron.d/ -p wa -k cronjobs
-w /var/spool/cron/ -p wa -k cronjobs

To load the rules to the kernel immediately, use the following command:

$ sudo augenrules --load