The operating system must generate audit records when successful/unsuccessful attempts to access privileges occur.

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

Associated with: CCI-000172

SV-72927r1_rule The operating system must generate audit records when successful/unsuccessful attempts to access privileges occur.

Vulnerability discussion

Frequently, an attacker that successfully gains access to a system has only gained access to an account with limited privileges, such as a guest account or a service account. The attacker must attempt to change to another user account with normal or elevated privileges in order to proceed. Auditing successful and unsuccessful attempts to elevate privileges mitigates this risk.

Check content

The options to configure the audit daemon are located in the /etc/security/audit_control file. To view the current settings, run the following command: sudo grep ^flags /etc/security/audit_control If the 'lo', 'ad', and 'aa' options are not set, this is a finding.

Fix text

To set the audit flags to the recommended setting, run the following command to add the flags 'lo', 'ad', and 'aa' all at once: sudo sed -i.bak '/^flags/ s/$/,lo,ad,aa/' /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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