SV-270176r1137691: RHEL 9 "/etc/audit/" must be group-owned by root. | Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 STIG SCAP Benchmark

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Assessment Title

Rule Text

RHEL 9 "/etc/audit/" must be group-owned by root.

Description

Discussion Text

The "/etc/audit/" directory contains files that ensure the proper auditing of command execution, privilege escalation, file manipulation, and more. Protection of this directory is critical for system security.

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

IA Controls

NIST SP 800-53

Not mappedCCI-000162

References

DPMS Target Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 DISA DPMS Target Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 5551

Checks

DISA STIG (Manual Reference)

Verify the group ownership of the "/etc/audit/" directory with the following command:

$ sudo stat -c "%G %n" /etc/audit/

root /etc/audit/

If "/etc/audit/" does not have a group owner of "root", this is a finding.

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.rhel9os:def:270176
# RHEL 9 "/etc/audit/" must be group-owned by root.
# Per-module read mechanism curated from static teardown of DISA's SCC tool
# (SCAP Compliance Checker) -- see the SCC Automation Reference above.

# /etc/audit directory is group-owned by root
# file_object (file_test)
test_1() {
  [ "$(stat -c '%g' '/etc/audit')" -eq 0 ]
}

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.rhel9os:def:270176
if [ ! -d "/etc/audit" ]; then echo "PASS"; exit 0; fi
if [ "$(stat -c "%G" /etc/audit)" = "root" ]; then echo "PASS"; exit 0; else sudo chgrp root /etc/audit/; fi
echo "FAIL"; exit 1

Remediation

Change the group of the file "/etc/audit/" to "root" by running the following command:

$ sudo chgrp root /etc/audit/