SV-37497r2: Sendmail logging must not be set to less than nine in the sendmail.cf file. | Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 Security Technical Implementation Guide

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Assessment Title

Rule Text

Sendmail logging must not be set to less than nine in the sendmail.cf file.

Description

Discussion Text

If Sendmail is not configured to log at level 9, system logs may not contain the information necessary for tracking unauthorized use of the sendmail service.

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

IA Controls

NIST SP 800-53

Not mappedCCI-000366

Additional Details

Responsibility

System Administrator

References

DPMS Target Red Hat 5 DISA DPMS Target Red Hat 5 2154

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.fso.rhel11:def:288
# Sendmail logging must not be set to less than nine in the sendmail.cf file.
# Per-module read mechanism curated from static teardown of DISA's SCC tool
# (SCAP Compliance Checker) -- see the SCC Automation Reference above.

# Check if Sendmail is not installed
# rpminfo_object (rpminfo_test)
test_1() {
  ! ( rpm -q --quiet 'sendmail' &>/dev/null )
}
# Sendmail logging is set to Level 9 or greater
# textfilecontent54_object (textfilecontent54_test)
test_2() {
  [ "$(sed -En 's/^O[ 	

]*LogLevel[ 	

]*=[ 	

]*([0-9]+)/\1/p' '/etc/mail/sendmail.cf')" -ge 9 ]
}

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.fso.rhel11:def:288

if ! rpm -q sendmail &> /dev/null; then
  echo "PASS"
  exit 0
fi

if grep -q "^O[ \t\n\r]*LogLevel[ \t\n\r]*=[ \t\n\r]*9" /etc/mail/sendmail.cf; then
  echo "PASS"
  exit 0
else
  echo "FAIL"
  exit 1
fi

Remediation

Edit the sendmail.cf file, locate the "O L" or "LogLevel" entry and change it to 9.