SLEM 5 must generate audit records for all account creations, modifications, disabling, and termination events that affect /etc/shadow.

Severity	Group ID	Group Title	Version	Rule ID	Date	STIG Version
medium	V-261452	SRG-OS-000004-GPOS-00004	SLEM-05-654145	SV-261452r996763_rule	2024-06-04	1

Description
Once an attacker establishes initial access to a system, the attacker often attempts to create a persistent method of reestablishing access. One way to accomplish this is for the attacker to simply create a new account. Auditing account creation mitigates this risk. To address access requirements, SLEM 5 may be integrated with enterprise-level authentication/access/auditing mechanisms that meet or exceed access control policy requirements.

Description

Once an attacker establishes initial access to a system, the attacker often attempts to create a persistent method of reestablishing access. One way to accomplish this is for the attacker to simply create a new account. Auditing account creation mitigates this risk. To address access requirements, SLEM 5 may be integrated with enterprise-level authentication/access/auditing mechanisms that meet or exceed access control policy requirements.

ℹ️ Check
Verify SLEM 5 generates an audit record when modifications occur to the "/etc/shadow" file with the following command: > sudo auditctl -l \| grep -w '/etc/shadow' -w /etc/shadow -p wa -k account_mod If the command does not return a line that matches the example or the line is commented out, this is a finding. Notes: The "-k" allows for specifying an arbitrary identifier. The string following "-k" does not need to match the example output above.

ℹ️ Check

Verify SLEM 5 generates an audit record when modifications occur to the "/etc/shadow" file with the following command: > sudo auditctl -l | grep -w '/etc/shadow' -w /etc/shadow -p wa -k account_mod If the command does not return a line that matches the example or the line is commented out, this is a finding. Notes: The "-k" allows for specifying an arbitrary identifier. The string following "-k" does not need to match the example output above.

✔️ Fix
Configure SLEM 5 to generate an audit record when all modifications to the "/etc/shadow" file occur. Add or modify the following line in the "/etc/audit/rules.d/audit.rules" file: -w /etc/shadow -p wa -k account_mod To reload the rules file, restart the audit daemon: > sudo systemctl restart auditd.service or issue the following command: > sudo augenrules --load