The at.deny file must be group-owned by root, bin, sys, or cron.
If the group owner of the at.deny file is not set to root, bin, sys, or cron, unauthorized users could be allowed to view or edit sensitive information contained within the file. Unauthorized modification could result in Denial of Service to authorized "at" users or provide unauthorized users with the ability to run "at" jobs.
How this relates to the STIG checklist: STIG vs SCAP benchmark.