The SUSE operating system must generate audit records for all account creations, modifications, disabling, and termination events that affect /etc/gshadow.

Severity	Group ID	Group Title	Version	Rule ID	Date	STIG Version
medium	V-234903	SRG-OS-000004-GPOS-00004	SLES-15-030040	SV-234903r958368_rule	2025-02-27	2

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 of account creation mitigates this risk. To address access requirements, many SUSE operating systems may be integrated with enterprise-level authentication/access/auditing mechanisms that meet or exceed access control policy requirements. Satisfies: SRG-OS-000004-GPOS-00004, SRG-OS-000239-GPOS-00089, SRG-OS-000240-GPOS-00090, SRG-OS-000241-GPOS-00091, SRG-OS-000303-GPOS-00120, SRG-OS-000463-GPOS-00207, SRG-OS-000476-GPOS-00221

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 of account creation mitigates this risk. To address access requirements, many SUSE operating systems may be integrated with enterprise-level authentication/access/auditing mechanisms that meet or exceed access control policy requirements. Satisfies: SRG-OS-000004-GPOS-00004, SRG-OS-000239-GPOS-00089, SRG-OS-000240-GPOS-00090, SRG-OS-000241-GPOS-00091, SRG-OS-000303-GPOS-00120, SRG-OS-000463-GPOS-00207, SRG-OS-000476-GPOS-00221

ℹ️ Check
Verify the SUSE operating system generates an audit record when all modifications occur to the "/etc/gshadow" file. Check that the file is being audited by performing the following command: > sudo auditctl -l \| grep -w '/etc/gshadow' -w /etc/gshadow -p wa -k account_mod If the command does not return a line, 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 the SUSE operating system generates an audit record when all modifications occur to the "/etc/gshadow" file. Check that the file is being audited by performing the following command: > sudo auditctl -l | grep -w '/etc/gshadow' -w /etc/gshadow -p wa -k account_mod If the command does not return a line, 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 the SUSE operating system to generate an audit record when all modifications to the "/etc/gshadow" file occur. Add or update the following rule to "/etc/audit/rules.d/audit.rules": -w /etc/gshadow -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