The macOS system must configure audit_control owner to root.

STIG ID: APPL-14-001120  |  SRG: SRG-OS-000057-GPOS-00027 | Severity: medium |  CCI: CCI-000162,CCI-000163,CCI-000164,CCI-000171,CCI-001493,CCI-001494,CCI-001495

Vulnerability Discussion

/etc/security/audit_control must have the owner set to root.

The audit service must be configured with the correct ownership to prevent normal users from
manipulation audit log configurations.

Audit logs contain sensitive data about the system and users. If log files are set to be readable and
writable only by system administrators, the risk is mitigated.

Satisfies:
SRG-OS-000057-GPOS-00027,SRG-OS-000058-GPOS-00028,SRG-OS-000059-GPOS-00029,SRG-OS-000063-GPOS-00032,SRG-OS-000256-GPOS-00097,SRG-OS-000257-GPOS-00098,SRG-OS-000258-GPOS-00099

Check

Verify the macOS system is configured with the audit_control owner to root with the
following command:

/bin/ls -dn /etc/security/audit_control | /usr/bin/awk '{print $3}'

If the result is not "0", this is a finding.

Fix

Configure the macOS system with the audit_control owner to root with
the following command:

/usr/sbin/chown root /etc/security/audit_control
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