SV-274104r1120300: Amazon Linux 2023 must generate audit records for all account creations, modifications, disabling, and termination events that affect /etc/passwd. | Amazon Linux 2023 STIG SCAP Benchmark

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Assessment Title

Rule Text

Amazon Linux 2023 must generate audit records for all account creations, modifications, disabling, and termination events that affect /etc/passwd.

Description

Discussion Text

Once an attacker establishes 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 create an account. Auditing account creation actions provides logging that can be used for forensic purposes. Satisfies: SRG-OS-000004-GPOS-00004, SRG-OS-000037-GPOS-00015, SRG-OS-000042-GPOS-00020, SRG-OS-000062-GPOS-00031, SRG-OS-000304-GPOS-00121, SRG-OS-000392-GPOS-00172, SRG-OS-000462-GPOS-00206, SRG-OS-000470-GPOS-00214, SRG-OS-000471-GPOS-00215, SRG-OS-000239-GPOS-00089, SRG-OS-000240-GPOS-00090, SRG-OS-000241-GPOS-00091, SRG-OS-000303-GPOS-00120, SRG-OS-000466-GPOS-00210, SRG-OS-000476-GPOS-00221, SRG-OS-000274-GPOS-00104, SRG-OS-000275-GPOS-00105, SRG-OS-000276-GPOS-00106, SRG-OS-000277-GPOS-00107

How this relates to the STIG checklist: STIG vs SCAP benchmark.

IA Controls

NIST SP 800-53

Not mappedCCI-000018Not mappedCCI-000130Not mappedCCI-000135Not mappedCCI-000169Not mappedCCI-000015Not mappedCCI-002884Not mappedCCI-000172Not mappedCCI-001403Not mappedCCI-001404Not mappedCCI-001405Not mappedCCI-002130

References

DPMS Target Amazon Linux 2023 DISA DPMS Target Amazon Linux 2023 5700

SCC Automation Reference

The reconstructed evaluation script behind this rule's OVAL check(s) — every module a compound check combines, with this rule's own concrete values and DISA's SCC tool's real per-module mechanism curated from static teardown of SCC releases.

#!/bin/bash
# Reconstructed from oval:mil.disa.stig.amzlx23os:def:274104
# Amazon Linux 2023 must generate audit records for all account creations, modifications, disabling, and termination events that affect /etc/passwd.
# Per-module read mechanism curated from static teardown of DISA's SCC tool
# (SCAP Compliance Checker) -- see the SCC Automation Reference above.

# Audit modifications to /etc/passwd
# textfilecontent54_object (textfilecontent54_test)
test_1() {
  grep -Pq '^\s*-w\s+/etc/passwd(\s+-p\s*([rx]*w[rx]*a[rx]*|[rx]*a[rx]*w[rx]*))?(\s+(-k\s+|-F\s+key=)[\w-]+)?\s*$' '/etc/audit/audit.rules' &>/dev/null
}

if test_1; then
  echo "PASS"
else
  echo "FAIL"
fi

Assessment Script Powered by AISandbox-executed

A standalone Shell script to assess this control automatically. Review before running it in your environment.

Syntax-checked and actually executed in an isolated sandbox (not the real system this checks) — confirmed to run without errors.

#!/bin/sh
# OVAL Definition: oval:mil.disa.stig.ind:tst:23040600


if [ ! -f "/etc/audit/rules.d/audit.rules" ]; then
    echo "FAIL"
    exit 1
fi

grep -q "^\\s*-w\\s+/etc/passwd(\\s+-p\\s*([rx]*w[rx]*a[rx]*|[rx]*a[rx]*w[rx]*))?(\\s+(-k\\s+|-F\\s+key=)[\\w-]+)?\\s*$" /etc/audit/rules.d/audit.rules || \
    { echo "FAIL"; exit 1; }

echo "PASS"
exit 0

Remediation

Configure Amazon Linux 2023 to generate audit records for all account creations, modifications, disabling, and termination events that affect "/etc/passwd".

Enable the auditd daemon so that it can start at boot time:

$ sudo systemctl enable auditd

Add or update the following file system rule to "/etc/audit/rules.d/audit.rules":
-w /etc/passwd -p wa -k identity

Then, restart the auditd service for the changes to take effect:

$ sudo service auditd restart