Write Audit Logs to the Disk

An XCCDF Rule

Description

To configure Audit daemon to write Audit logs to the disk, set write_logs to yes in /etc/audit/auditd.conf. This is the default setting.

Rationale

If write_logs isn't set to yes, the Audit logs will not be written to the disk.

ID: xccdf_org.ssgproject.content_rule_auditd_write_logs
Severity: Medium
References: CM-6

FAU_STG.1

SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227
Updated: about 1 year ago

- name: Gather the package facts
  package_facts:
    manager: auto
  tags:
  - NIST-800-53-CM-6
  - auditd_write_logs  - low_complexity
  - low_disruption
  - medium_severity
  - no_reboot_needed
  - restrict_strategy

- name: Write Audit Logs to the Disk
  block:

  - name: Check for duplicate values
    lineinfile:
      path: /etc/audit/auditd.conf
      create: true
      regexp: (?i)^\s*write_logs\s*=\s*
      state: absent
    check_mode: true
    changed_when: false
    register: dupes

  - name: Deduplicate values from /etc/audit/auditd.conf
    lineinfile:
      path: /etc/audit/auditd.conf
      create: true
      regexp: (?i)^\s*write_logs\s*=\s*
      state: absent
    when: dupes.found is defined and dupes.found > 1

  - name: Insert correct line to /etc/audit/auditd.conf
    lineinfile:
      path: /etc/audit/auditd.conf
      create: true
      regexp: (?i)^\s*write_logs\s*=\s*
      line: write_logs = yes
      state: present
  when:
  - '"auditd" in ansible_facts.packages'
  - ansible_virtualization_type not in ["docker", "lxc", "openvz", "podman", "container"]
  tags:
  - NIST-800-53-CM-6
  - auditd_write_logs
  - low_complexity
  - low_disruption
  - medium_severity
  - no_reboot_needed
  - restrict_strategy

# Remediation is applicable only in certain platforms
if [ ! -f /.dockerenv ] && [ ! -f /run/.containerenv ] && dpkg-query --show --showformat='${db:Status-Status}\n' 'auditd' 2>/dev/null | grep -q installed; then

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

cp "/etc/audit/auditd.conf" "/etc/audit/auditd.conf.bak"
# Insert at the end of the file
printf '%s\n' "write_logs = yes" >> "/etc/audit/auditd.conf"
# Clean up after ourselves.
rm "/etc/audit/auditd.conf.bak"

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

Write Audit Logs to the Disk

Description

Rationale

Remediation - Ansible

Remediation - Shell Script