Configure auditd max_log_file_action Upon Reaching Maximum Log Size

An XCCDF Rule

Description

The default action to take when the logs reach their maximum size is to rotate the log files, discarding the oldest one. To configure the action taken by auditd, add or correct the line in /etc/audit/auditd.conf:

max_log_file_action = ACTION

Possible values for ACTION are described in the auditd.conf man page. These include:

ignore
syslog
suspend
rotate
keep_logs

Set the ACTION to rotate to ensure log rotation occurs. This is the default. The setting is case-insensitive.

Rationale

Automatically rotating logs (by setting this to rotate) minimizes the chances of the system unexpectedly running out of disk space by being overwhelmed with log data. However, for systems that must never discard log data, or which use external processes to transfer it and reclaim space, keep_logs can be employed.

ID: xccdf_org.ssgproject.content_rule_auditd_data_retention_max_log_file_action_stig
Severity: Medium
References: 1 11 12 13 14 15 16 19 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

APO11.04 APO12.06 APO13.01 BAI03.05 BAI04.04 BAI08.02 DSS02.02 DSS02.04 DSS02.07 DSS03.01 DSS05.04 DSS05.07 MEA02.01

CCI-000140

164.312(a)(2)(ii)

4.2.3.10 4.3.3.3.9 4.3.3.5.8 4.3.4.4.7 4.3.4.5.6 4.3.4.5.7 4.3.4.5.8 4.4.2.1 4.4.2.2 4.4.2.4

SR 2.10 SR 2.11 SR 2.12 SR 2.8 SR 2.9 SR 6.1 SR 7.1 SR 7.2

A.12.1.3 A.12.4.1 A.12.4.2 A.12.4.3 A.12.4.4 A.12.7.1 A.16.1.4 A.16.1.5 A.16.1.7 A.17.2.1

AU-5(1) AU-5(2) AU-5(4) AU-5(b) CM-6(a)

DE.AE-3 DE.AE-5 PR.DS-4 PR.PT-1 RS.AN-1 RS.AN-4

Req-10.7

SRG-OS-000047-GPOS-00023

SRG-APP-000098-CTR-000185 SRG-APP-000099-CTR-000190 SRG-APP-000100-CTR-000195 SRG-APP-000100-CTR-000200 SRG-APP-000109-CTR-000215 SRG-APP-000290-CTR-000670 SRG-APP-000357-CTR-000800
Updated: about 1 year ago

- name: Gather the package facts
  package_facts:
    manager: auto
  tags:
  - NIST-800-53-AU-5(1)
  - NIST-800-53-AU-5(2)  - NIST-800-53-AU-5(4)
  - NIST-800-53-AU-5(b)
  - NIST-800-53-CM-6(a)
  - PCI-DSS-Req-10.7
  - auditd_data_retention_max_log_file_action_stig
  - low_complexity
  - low_disruption
  - medium_severity
  - no_reboot_needed
  - restrict_strategy
- name: XCCDF Value var_auditd_max_log_file_action # promote to variable
  set_fact:
    var_auditd_max_log_file_action: !!str <xccdf-1.2:sub xmlns:xccdf-1.2="http://checklists.nist.gov/xccdf/1.2" idref="xccdf_org.ssgproject.content_value_var_auditd_max_log_file_action" use="legacy"/>
  tags:
    - always

- name: Configure auditd max_log_file_action Upon Reaching Maximum Log Size
  lineinfile:
    dest: /etc/audit/auditd.conf
    line: max_log_file_action = {{ var_auditd_max_log_file_action }}
    regexp: ^\s*max_log_file_action\s*=\s*.*$
    state: present
    create: true
  when:
  - '"audit" in ansible_facts.packages'
  - ansible_virtualization_type not in ["docker", "lxc", "openvz", "podman", "container"]
  tags:
  - NIST-800-53-AU-5(1)
  - NIST-800-53-AU-5(2)
  - NIST-800-53-AU-5(4)
  - NIST-800-53-AU-5(b)
  - NIST-800-53-CM-6(a)
  - PCI-DSS-Req-10.7
  - auditd_data_retention_max_log_file_action_stig
  - low_complexity
  - low_disruption
  - medium_severity
  - no_reboot_needed
  - restrict_strategy

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

var_auditd_max_log_file_action='<xccdf-1.2:sub xmlns:xccdf-1.2="http://checklists.nist.gov/xccdf/1.2" idref="xccdf_org.ssgproject.content_value_var_auditd_max_log_file_action" use="legacy"/>'

# Strip any search characters in the key arg so that the key can be replaced without
# adding any search characters to the config file.
stripped_key=$(sed 's/[\^=\$,;+]*//g' <<< "^max_log_file_action")

# shellcheck disable=SC2059
printf -v formatted_output "%s = %s" "$stripped_key" "$var_auditd_max_log_file_action"

# If the key exists, change it. Otherwise, add it to the config_file.
# We search for the key string followed by a word boundary (matched by \>),
# so if we search for 'setting', 'setting2' won't match.
if LC_ALL=C grep -q -m 1 -i -e "^max_log_file_action\\>" "/etc/audit/auditd.conf"; then
    escaped_formatted_output=$(sed -e 's|/|\\/|g' <<< "$formatted_output")
    LC_ALL=C sed -i --follow-symlinks "s/^max_log_file_action\\>.*/$escaped_formatted_output/gi" "/etc/audit/auditd.conf"
else
    if [[ -s "/etc/audit/auditd.conf" ]] && [[ -n "$(tail -c 1 -- "/etc/audit/auditd.conf" || true)" ]]; then
        LC_ALL=C sed -i --follow-symlinks '$a'\\ "/etc/audit/auditd.conf"
    fi
    printf '%s\n' "$formatted_output" >> "/etc/audit/auditd.conf"
fi

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

Configure auditd max_log_file_action Upon Reaching Maximum Log Size

Description

Rationale

Remediation - Ansible

Remediation - Shell Script