Enable cron Service

An XCCDF Rule

Description

The crond service is used to execute commands at preconfigured times. It is required by almost all systems to perform necessary maintenance tasks, such as notifying root of system activity. The crond service can be enabled with the following command:

$ sudo systemctl enable crond.service

Rationale

Due to its usage for maintenance and security-supporting tasks, enabling the cron daemon is essential.

ID: xccdf_org.ssgproject.content_rule_service_crond_enabled
Severity: Medium
References: 11 14 3 9

BAI10.01 BAI10.02 BAI10.03 BAI10.05 DSS05.02 DSS05.05 DSS06.06

164.308(a)(4)(i) 164.308(b)(1) 164.308(b)(3) 164.310(b) 164.312(e)(1) 164.312(e)(2)(ii)

4.3.3.5.1 4.3.3.5.2 4.3.3.5.3 4.3.3.5.4 4.3.3.5.5 4.3.3.5.6 4.3.3.5.7 4.3.3.5.8 4.3.3.6.1 4.3.3.6.2 4.3.3.6.3 4.3.3.6.4 4.3.3.6.5 4.3.3.6.6 4.3.3.6.7 4.3.3.6.8 4.3.3.6.9 4.3.3.7.1 4.3.3.7.2 4.3.3.7.3 4.3.3.7.4 4.3.4.3.2 4.3.4.3.3

SR 1.1 SR 1.10 SR 1.11 SR 1.12 SR 1.13 SR 1.2 SR 1.3 SR 1.4 SR 1.5 SR 1.6 SR 1.7 SR 1.8 SR 1.9 SR 2.1 SR 2.2 SR 2.3 SR 2.4 SR 2.5 SR 2.6 SR 2.7 SR 7.6

A.12.1.2 A.12.5.1 A.12.6.2 A.14.2.2 A.14.2.3 A.14.2.4 A.9.1.2

CM-6(a)

PR.IP-1 PR.PT-3
Updated: 8 months ago


[customizations.services]
enabled = ["crond"]

- name: Enable service crond
  block:

  - name: Gather the package facts
    package_facts:
      manager: auto
  - name: Enable service crond
    systemd:
      name: crond
      enabled: 'yes'
      state: started
      masked: 'no'
    when:
    - '"cronie" in ansible_facts.packages'
  when: ansible_virtualization_type not in ["docker", "lxc", "openvz", "podman", "container"]
  tags:
  - NIST-800-53-CM-6(a)
  - enable_strategy
  - low_complexity
  - low_disruption
  - medium_severity
  - no_reboot_needed
  - service_crond_enabled

include enable_crond

class enable_crond {
  service {'crond':
    enable => true,
    ensure => 'running',  }
}

Enable cron Service

Description

Rationale

Remediation - OS Build Blueprint

Remediation - Ansible

Remediation - Puppet