Ensure journald is configured to send logs to rsyslog

An XCCDF Rule

Description

Data from journald may be stored in volatile memory or persisted locally. Utilities exist to accept remote export of journald logs.

Rationale

Storing log data on a remote host protects log integrity from local attacks. If an attacker gains root access on the local system, they could tamper with or remove log data that is stored on the local system.

ID: xccdf_org.ssgproject.content_rule_journald_forward_to_syslog
Severity: Medium
Updated: 8 months ago

- name: Setting unquoted shell-style assignment of 'ForwardToSyslog' to 'yes' in '/etc/systemd/journald.conf'
  block:

  - name: Check for duplicate values
    lineinfile:
      path: /etc/systemd/journald.conf      create: true
      regexp: ^\s*ForwardToSyslog=
      state: absent
    check_mode: true
    changed_when: false
    register: dupes

  - name: Deduplicate values from /etc/systemd/journald.conf
    lineinfile:
      path: /etc/systemd/journald.conf
      create: true
      regexp: ^\s*ForwardToSyslog=
      state: absent
    when: dupes.found is defined and dupes.found > 1

  - name: Insert correct line to /etc/systemd/journald.conf
    lineinfile:
      path: /etc/systemd/journald.conf
      create: true
      regexp: ^\s*ForwardToSyslog=
      line: ForwardToSyslog=yes
      state: present
      insertbefore: ^# ForwardToSyslog
      validate: /usr/bin/bash -n %s
  when: ansible_virtualization_type not in ["docker", "lxc", "openvz", "podman", "container"]
  tags:
  - journald_forward_to_syslog
  - low_complexity
  - low_disruption
  - medium_severity
  - no_reboot_needed
  - restrict_strategy

# Remediation is applicable only in certain platforms
if [ ! -f /.dockerenv ] && [ ! -f /run/.containerenv ]; then

if [ -e "/etc/systemd/journald.conf" ] ; then
    
    LC_ALL=C sed -i "/^\s*ForwardToSyslog\s*=\s*/d" "/etc/systemd/journald.conf"else
    touch "/etc/systemd/journald.conf"
fi
# make sure file has newline at the end
sed -i -e '$a\' "/etc/systemd/journald.conf"

cp "/etc/systemd/journald.conf" "/etc/systemd/journald.conf.bak"
# Insert before the line matching the regex '^#\s*ForwardToSyslog'.
line_number="$(LC_ALL=C grep -n "^#\s*ForwardToSyslog" "/etc/systemd/journald.conf.bak" | LC_ALL=C sed 's/:.*//g')"
if [ -z "$line_number" ]; then
    # There was no match of '^#\s*ForwardToSyslog', insert at
    # the end of the file.
    printf '%s\n' "ForwardToSyslog=yes" >> "/etc/systemd/journald.conf"
else
    head -n "$(( line_number - 1 ))" "/etc/systemd/journald.conf.bak" > "/etc/systemd/journald.conf"
    printf '%s\n' "ForwardToSyslog=yes" >> "/etc/systemd/journald.conf"
    tail -n "+$(( line_number ))" "/etc/systemd/journald.conf.bak" >> "/etc/systemd/journald.conf"
fi
# Clean up after ourselves.
rm "/etc/systemd/journald.conf.bak"

else
    >&2 echo 'Remediation is not applicable, nothing was done'
fi

Ensure journald is configured to send logs to rsyslog

Description

Rationale

Remediation - Ansible

Remediation - Shell Script