The operating system must automatically audit account creation.

From Apple OS X 10.9 (Mavericks) Workstation Security Technical Implementation Guide

Associated with: CCI-000018

SV-72717r1_rule The operating system must automatically audit account creation.

Vulnerability discussion

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

Check content

In order to view the currently configured flags for the audit daemon, run the following command: sudo grep ^flags /etc/security/audit_control The account creation events are logged by way of the 'ad' flag. If 'ad' is not listed in the result of the check, this is a finding.

Fix text

To make sure the appropriate flags are enabled for auditing, run the following command: sudo sed -i.bak '/^flags/ s/$/,ad/' /etc/security/audit_control; sudo audit -s A text editor may also be used to implement the required update to the /etc/security/audit_control file.

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