The macOS system must be configured with audit log folders owned by root.

From Apple OS X 10.13 Security Technical Implementation Guide

Associated with: CCI-000162

SV-96255r1_rule The macOS system must be configured with audit log folders owned by root.

Vulnerability discussion

The audit service must be configured to create log files with the correct ownership to prevent regular users from reading audit logs. Audit logs contain sensitive data about the system and about users. If log files are set to be readable and writable only by root or administrative users with sudo, the risk is mitigated.

Check content

To check the ownership of the audit log folder, run the following command: /usr/bin/sudo ls -lde $(/usr/bin/sudo /usr/bin/grep '^dir' /etc/security/audit_control | awk -F: '{print $2}') The results should show the owner (third column) to be "root". If it does not, this is a finding.

Fix text

For any log folder that has an incorrect owner, run the following command: /usr/bin/sudo chown root [audit log folder]

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