Vulnerability Discussion

The audit service must be configured to create log files that are readable only by the root user and group wheel. To achieve this, audit log files must be configured to mode 440 or less permissive; thereby preventing normal users from reading, modifying, or deleting audit logs.

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

Check

Verify the macOS system is configured with audit log files set to mode 440 or less with the following command:

/bin/ls -l $(/usr/bin/grep '^dir' /etc/security/audit_control | /usr/bin/awk -F: '{print $2}') | /usr/bin/awk '!/-r--r-----|current|total/{print $1}' | /usr/bin/wc -l | /usr/bin/tr -d ' '

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

Fix

Configure the macOS system with audit log files set to mode 440 with the following command:

/bin/chmod 440 /var/audit/*