The audit system should collect write events to /etc/passwd file for all users and root.
If the auditd daemon is configured
to use the augenrules program to read audit rules during daemon
startup (the default), add the following lines to a file with suffix
.rules in the directory /etc/audit/rules.d:
If the auditd daemon is configured to use the auditctl
utility to read audit rules during daemon startup, add the following lines to
/etc/audit/audit.rules file:
Note that these rules can be configured in a
number of ways while still achieving the desired effect. Here the system calls
have been placed independent of other system calls. Grouping system calls related
to the same event is more efficient. See the following example:
Creation of users through direct edition of /etc/passwd could be an indicator of malicious activity on a system.
Auditing these events could serve as evidence of potential system compromise.
# Remediation is applicable only in certain platforms
if [ ! -f /.dockerenv ] && [ ! -f /run/.containerenv ] && rpm --quiet -q audit; then
# First perform the remediation of the syscall rule
# Retrieve hardware architecture of the underlying system
[ "$(getconf LONG_BIT)" = "32" ] && RULE_ARCHS=("b32") || RULE_ARCHS=("b32" "b64")
for ARCH in "${RULE_ARCHS[@]}"
do
ACTION_ARCH_FILTERS="-a always,exit -F arch=$ARCH"
OTHER_FILTERS="-F a2&03 -F path=/etc/passwd"
AUID_FILTERS="-F auid>=1000 -F auid!=unset"
SYSCALL="openat"
KEY="user-modify"
SYSCALL_GROUPING=""
# Perform the remediation for both possible tools: 'auditctl' and 'augenrules'
unset syscall_a
unset syscall_grouping
unset syscall_string
unset syscall
unset file_to_edit
unset rule_to_edit
unset rule_syscalls_to_edit
unset other_string
unset auid_string
unset full_rule
# Load macro arguments into arrays
read -a syscall_a <<< $SYSCALL
read -a syscall_grouping <<< $SYSCALL_GROUPING
# Create a list of audit *.rules files that should be inspected for presence and correctness
# of a particular audit rule. The scheme is as follows:
#
# -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Tool used to load audit rules | Rule already defined | Audit rules file to inspect |
# -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# auditctl | Doesn't matter | /etc/audit/audit.rules |
# -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# augenrules | Yes | /etc/audit/rules.d/*.rules |
# augenrules | No | /etc/audit/rules.d/$key.rules |
# -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#
files_to_inspect=()
# If audit tool is 'augenrules', then check if the audit rule is defined
# If rule is defined, add '/etc/audit/rules.d/*.rules' to the list for inspection
# If rule isn't defined yet, add '/etc/audit/rules.d/$key.rules' to the list for inspection
default_file="/etc/audit/rules.d/$KEY.rules"
# As other_filters may include paths, lets use a different delimiter for it
# The "F" script expression tells sed to print the filenames where the expressions matched
readarray -t files_to_inspect < <(sed -s -n -e "/^$ACTION_ARCH_FILTERS/!d" -e "\#$OTHER_FILTERS#!d" -e "/$AUID_FILTERS/!d" -e "F" /etc/audit/rules.d/*.rules)
# Case when particular rule isn't defined in /etc/audit/rules.d/*.rules yet
if [ ${#files_to_inspect[@]} -eq "0" ]
then
file_to_inspect="/etc/audit/rules.d/$KEY.rules"
files_to_inspect=("$file_to_inspect")
if [ ! -e "$file_to_inspect" ]
then
touch "$file_to_inspect"
chmod 0640 "$file_to_inspect"
fi
fi
# After converting to jinja, we cannot return; therefore we skip the rest of the macro if needed instead
skip=1
for audit_file in "${files_to_inspect[@]}"
do
# Filter existing $audit_file rules' definitions to select those that satisfy the rule pattern,
# i.e, collect rules that match:
# * the action, list and arch, (2-nd argument)
# * the other filters, (3-rd argument)
# * the auid filters, (4-rd argument)
readarray -t similar_rules < <(sed -e "/^$ACTION_ARCH_FILTERS/!d" -e "\#$OTHER_FILTERS#!d" -e "/$AUID_FILTERS/!d" "$audit_file")
candidate_rules=()
# Filter out rules that have more fields then required. This will remove rules more specific than the required scope
for s_rule in "${similar_rules[@]}"
do
# Strip all the options and fields we know of,
# than check if there was any field left over
extra_fields=$(sed -E -e "s/^$ACTION_ARCH_FILTERS//" -e "s#$OTHER_FILTERS##" -e "s/$AUID_FILTERS//" -e "s/((:?-S [[:alnum:],]+)+)//g" -e "s/-F key=\w+|-k \w+//"<<< "$s_rule")
grep -q -- "-F" <<< "$extra_fields" || candidate_rules+=("$s_rule")
done
if [[ ${#syscall_a[@]} -ge 1 ]]
then
# Check if the syscall we want is present in any of the similar existing rules
for rule in "${candidate_rules[@]}"
do
rule_syscalls=$(echo "$rule" | grep -o -P '(-S [\w,]+)+' | xargs)
all_syscalls_found=0
for syscall in "${syscall_a[@]}"
do
grep -q -- "\b${syscall}\b" <<< "$rule_syscalls" || {
# A syscall was not found in the candidate rule
all_syscalls_found=1
}
done
if [[ $all_syscalls_found -eq 0 ]]
then
# We found a rule with all the syscall(s) we want; skip rest of macro
skip=0
break
fi
# Check if this rule can be grouped with our target syscall and keep track of it
for syscall_g in "${syscall_grouping[@]}"
do
if grep -q -- "\b${syscall_g}\b" <<< "$rule_syscalls"
then
file_to_edit=${audit_file}
rule_to_edit=${rule}
rule_syscalls_to_edit=${rule_syscalls}
fi
done
done
else
# If there is any candidate rule, it is compliant; skip rest of macro
if [ "${#candidate_rules[@]}" -gt 0 ]
then
skip=0
fi
fi
if [ "$skip" -eq 0 ]; then
break
fi
done
if [ "$skip" -ne 0 ]; then
# We checked all rules that matched the expected resemblance pattern (action, arch & auid)
# At this point we know if we need to either append the $full_rule or group
# the syscall together with an exsiting rule
# Append the full_rule if it cannot be grouped to any other rule
if [ -z ${rule_to_edit+x} ]
then
# Build full_rule while avoid adding double spaces when other_filters is empty
if [ "${#syscall_a[@]}" -gt 0 ]
then
syscall_string=""
for syscall in "${syscall_a[@]}"
do
syscall_string+=" -S $syscall"
done
fi
other_string=$([[ $OTHER_FILTERS ]] && echo " $OTHER_FILTERS") || /bin/true
auid_string=$([[ $AUID_FILTERS ]] && echo " $AUID_FILTERS") || /bin/true
full_rule="$ACTION_ARCH_FILTERS${syscall_string}${other_string}${auid_string} -F key=$KEY" || /bin/true
echo "$full_rule" >> "$default_file"
chmod o-rwx ${default_file}
else
# Check if the syscalls are declared as a comma separated list or
# as multiple -S parameters
if grep -q -- "," <<< "${rule_syscalls_to_edit}"
then
delimiter=","
else
delimiter=" -S "
fi
new_grouped_syscalls="${rule_syscalls_to_edit}"
for syscall in "${syscall_a[@]}"
do
grep -q -- "\b${syscall}\b" <<< "${rule_syscalls_to_edit}" || {
# A syscall was not found in the candidate rule
new_grouped_syscalls+="${delimiter}${syscall}"
}
done
# Group the syscall in the rule
sed -i -e "\#${rule_to_edit}#s#${rule_syscalls_to_edit}#${new_grouped_syscalls}#" "$file_to_edit"
fi
fi
unset syscall_a
unset syscall_grouping
unset syscall_string
unset syscall
unset file_to_edit
unset rule_to_edit
unset rule_syscalls_to_edit
unset other_string
unset auid_string
unset full_rule
# Load macro arguments into arrays
read -a syscall_a <<< $SYSCALL
read -a syscall_grouping <<< $SYSCALL_GROUPING
# Create a list of audit *.rules files that should be inspected for presence and correctness
# of a particular audit rule. The scheme is as follows:
#
# -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Tool used to load audit rules | Rule already defined | Audit rules file to inspect |
# -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# auditctl | Doesn't matter | /etc/audit/audit.rules |
# -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# augenrules | Yes | /etc/audit/rules.d/*.rules |
# augenrules | No | /etc/audit/rules.d/$key.rules |
# -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#
files_to_inspect=()
# If audit tool is 'auditctl', then add '/etc/audit/audit.rules'
# file to the list of files to be inspected
default_file="/etc/audit/audit.rules"
files_to_inspect+=('/etc/audit/audit.rules' )
# After converting to jinja, we cannot return; therefore we skip the rest of the macro if needed instead
skip=1
for audit_file in "${files_to_inspect[@]}"
do
# Filter existing $audit_file rules' definitions to select those that satisfy the rule pattern,
# i.e, collect rules that match:
# * the action, list and arch, (2-nd argument)
# * the other filters, (3-rd argument)
# * the auid filters, (4-rd argument)
readarray -t similar_rules < <(sed -e "/^$ACTION_ARCH_FILTERS/!d" -e "\#$OTHER_FILTERS#!d" -e "/$AUID_FILTERS/!d" "$audit_file")
candidate_rules=()
# Filter out rules that have more fields then required. This will remove rules more specific than the required scope
for s_rule in "${similar_rules[@]}"
do
# Strip all the options and fields we know of,
# than check if there was any field left over
extra_fields=$(sed -E -e "s/^$ACTION_ARCH_FILTERS//" -e "s#$OTHER_FILTERS##" -e "s/$AUID_FILTERS//" -e "s/((:?-S [[:alnum:],]+)+)//g" -e "s/-F key=\w+|-k \w+//"<<< "$s_rule")
grep -q -- "-F" <<< "$extra_fields" || candidate_rules+=("$s_rule")
done
if [[ ${#syscall_a[@]} -ge 1 ]]
then
# Check if the syscall we want is present in any of the similar existing rules
for rule in "${candidate_rules[@]}"
do
rule_syscalls=$(echo "$rule" | grep -o -P '(-S [\w,]+)+' | xargs)
all_syscalls_found=0
for syscall in "${syscall_a[@]}"
do
grep -q -- "\b${syscall}\b" <<< "$rule_syscalls" || {
# A syscall was not found in the candidate rule
all_syscalls_found=1
}
done
if [[ $all_syscalls_found -eq 0 ]]
then
# We found a rule with all the syscall(s) we want; skip rest of macro
skip=0
break
fi
# Check if this rule can be grouped with our target syscall and keep track of it
for syscall_g in "${syscall_grouping[@]}"
do
if grep -q -- "\b${syscall_g}\b" <<< "$rule_syscalls"
then
file_to_edit=${audit_file}
rule_to_edit=${rule}
rule_syscalls_to_edit=${rule_syscalls}
fi
done
done
else
# If there is any candidate rule, it is compliant; skip rest of macro
if [ "${#candidate_rules[@]}" -gt 0 ]
then
skip=0
fi
fi
if [ "$skip" -eq 0 ]; then
break
fi
done
if [ "$skip" -ne 0 ]; then
# We checked all rules that matched the expected resemblance pattern (action, arch & auid)
# At this point we know if we need to either append the $full_rule or group
# the syscall together with an exsiting rule
# Append the full_rule if it cannot be grouped to any other rule
if [ -z ${rule_to_edit+x} ]
then
# Build full_rule while avoid adding double spaces when other_filters is empty
if [ "${#syscall_a[@]}" -gt 0 ]
then
syscall_string=""
for syscall in "${syscall_a[@]}"
do
syscall_string+=" -S $syscall"
done
fi
other_string=$([[ $OTHER_FILTERS ]] && echo " $OTHER_FILTERS") || /bin/true
auid_string=$([[ $AUID_FILTERS ]] && echo " $AUID_FILTERS") || /bin/true
full_rule="$ACTION_ARCH_FILTERS${syscall_string}${other_string}${auid_string} -F key=$KEY" || /bin/true
echo "$full_rule" >> "$default_file"
chmod o-rwx ${default_file}
else
# Check if the syscalls are declared as a comma separated list or
# as multiple -S parameters
if grep -q -- "," <<< "${rule_syscalls_to_edit}"
then
delimiter=","
else
delimiter=" -S "
fi
new_grouped_syscalls="${rule_syscalls_to_edit}"
for syscall in "${syscall_a[@]}"
do
grep -q -- "\b${syscall}\b" <<< "${rule_syscalls_to_edit}" || {
# A syscall was not found in the candidate rule
new_grouped_syscalls+="${delimiter}${syscall}"
}
done
# Group the syscall in the rule
sed -i -e "\#${rule_to_edit}#s#${rule_syscalls_to_edit}#${new_grouped_syscalls}#" "$file_to_edit"
fi
fi
done
else
>&2 echo 'Remediation is not applicable, nothing was done'
fi