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

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

Associated with: CCI-000172

SV-74251r1_rule The operating system must generate audit records when successful/unsuccessful attempts to modify 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 switch to another user account mitigates this risk.

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 Attempts to log in as another user are logged by way of the 'lo' flag. If 'lo' 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/$/,lo/' /etc/security/audit_control; sudo audit -s A text editor may also be used to implement the required updates to the /etc/security/audit_control file.

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