Audit log files must be mode 440 or less permissive.

From Apple OS X 10.10 (Yosemite) Workstation Security Technical Implementation Guide

Associated with: CCI-000162

SV-74043r1_rule Audit log files must be mode 440 or less permissive.

Vulnerability discussion

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

Check content

To check the permissions of the audit log files, run the following command: sudo ls -le $(sudo grep '^dir' /etc/security/audit_control | awk -F: '{print $2}') | grep -v current The results should show the permissions (first column) to be 440 or less permissive. If not, this is a finding.

Fix text

For any log file that returns an incorrect permission value, run the following command: sudo chmod 440 [audit log file] [audit log file] is the full path to the log file in question.

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