SV-270684r1066541: Ubuntu 24.04 LTS must generate audit records for all account creations, modifications, disabling, and termination events that affect /etc/passwd. | Canonical Ubuntu 24.04 LTS STIG SCAP Benchmark

Loading benchmark…

Assessment Title

Rule Text

Ubuntu 24.04 LTS 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. To address access requirements, many 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-000458-GPOS-00203, SRG-OS-000463-GPOS-00207, SRG-OS-000476-GPOS-00221

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

IA Controls

NIST SP 800-53

Not mappedCCI-000018Not mappedCCI-001403Not mappedCCI-001404Not mappedCCI-001405Not mappedCCI-002130Not mappedCCI-000172

References

DPMS Target Canonical Ubuntu 24.04 LTS DISA DPMS Target Canonical Ubuntu 24.04 LTS 5673

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.ubuntu2404os:def:270684
# Ubuntu 24.04 LTS 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.

# Invocations of /etc/passwd are audited - watch syntax
# 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=)\S+)*\s*$' '/etc/audit/audit.rules' &>/dev/null
}
# Invocations of /etc/passwd are audited - system call syntax
# textfilecontent54_object (textfilecontent54_test)
test_2() {
  grep -Pq '^\s*-a\s+(?:always,exit|exit,always)(?:\s+-S\s+all)?\s+-F\s+path=/etc/passwd\s+-F\s+perm=(?:[rx]*w[rx]*a[rx]*|[rx]*a[rx]*w[rx]*)(?:\s+(?:-k\s+|-F\s+key=)\S+)*\s*$' '/etc/audit/audit.rules' &>/dev/null
}

if ( test_1 || test_2 ); 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.ubuntu2404os:def:270684

if 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=)\\S+)*\\s*$" /etc/audit/rules.d/stig.rules || \
   grep -q "^\\s*-a\\s+(?:always,exit|exit,always)(?:\\s+-S\\s+all)?\\s+-F\\s+path=/etc/passwd\\s+-F\\s+perm=(?:[rx]*w[rx]*a[rx]*|[rx]*a[rx]*w[rx]*)(?:\\s+(?:-k\\s+|-F\\s+key=)\\S+)*\\s*$" /etc/audit/rules.d/stig.rules; then
    echo "PASS"
    exit 0
else
    echo "FAIL"
    exit 1
fi

Remediation

Configure Ubuntu 24.04 LTS to generate audit records for all account creations, modifications, disabling, and termination events that affect "/etc/passwd". 
 
Add or update the following rule to "/etc/audit/rules.d/stig.rules": 
 
-w /etc/passwd -p wa -k usergroup_modification 
  
To reload the rules file, issue the following command: 
 
$ sudo augenrules --load