RHEL 8 audit logs must be group-owned by root to prevent unauthorized read access.

Severity	Group ID	Group Title	Version	Rule ID	Date	STIG Version
medium	V-230398	SRG-OS-000057-GPOS-00027	RHEL-08-030090	SV-230398r1017204_rule	2025-03-26	2

Description
Unauthorized disclosure of audit records can reveal system and configuration data to attackers, thus compromising its confidentiality. Audit information includes all information (e.g., audit records, audit settings, audit reports) needed to successfully audit RHEL 8 activity. Satisfies: SRG-OS-000057-GPOS-00027, SRG-OS-000058-GPOS-00028, SRG-OS-000059-GPOS-00029

ℹ️ Check
Verify the audit logs are group-owned by "root". First determine where the audit logs are stored with the following command: $ sudo grep -iw log_file /etc/audit/auditd.conf log_file = /var/log/audit/audit.log Using the location of the audit log file, determine if the audit log is group-owned by "root" using the following command: $ sudo ls -al /var/log/audit/audit.log rw------- 2 root root 23 Jun 11 11:56 /var/log/audit/audit.log If the audit log is not group-owned by "root", this is a finding.

ℹ️ Check

Verify the audit logs are group-owned by "root". First determine where the audit logs are stored with the following command: $ sudo grep -iw log_file /etc/audit/auditd.conf log_file = /var/log/audit/audit.log Using the location of the audit log file, determine if the audit log is group-owned by "root" using the following command: $ sudo ls -al /var/log/audit/audit.log rw------- 2 root root 23 Jun 11 11:56 /var/log/audit/audit.log If the audit log is not group-owned by "root", this is a finding.

✔️ Fix
Configure the audit log to be owned by root by configuring the log group in the /etc/audit/auditd.conf file: log_group = root