The audit system already collects process information 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 in order to watch for attempted manual
edits of files involved in storing such process information:
-w /run/utmp -p wa -k session
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 in order to watch for attempted manual
edits of files involved in storing such process information:
-w /run/utmp -p wa -k session
Rationale
Manual editing of these files may indicate nefarious activity, such
as an attacker attempting to remove evidence of an intrusion.
# Remediation is applicable only in certain platforms
if [ ! -f /.dockerenv ] && [ ! -f /run/.containerenv ] && dpkg-query --show --showformat='${db:Status-Status}\n' 'auditd' 2>/dev/null | grep -q installed; then
# Perform the remediation for both possible tools: 'auditctl' and 'augenrules'
# Create a list of audit *.rules files that should be inspected for presence and correctness
# of a particular audit rule. The scheme is as follows:
#
# -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Tool used to load audit rules | Rule already defined | Audit rules file to inspect |
# -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# auditctl | Doesn't matter | /etc/audit/audit.rules |
# -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# augenrules | Yes | /etc/audit/rules.d/*.rules |
# augenrules | No | /etc/audit/rules.d/$key.rules |
# -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
files_to_inspect=()
# If the audit tool is 'auditctl', then add '/etc/audit/audit.rules'
# into the list of files to be inspected
files_to_inspect+=('/etc/audit/audit.rules')
# Finally perform the inspection and possible subsequent audit rule
# correction for each of the files previously identified for inspection
for audit_rules_file in "${files_to_inspect[@]}"
do
# Check if audit watch file system object rule for given path already present
if grep -q -P -- "^[\s]*-w[\s]+/run/utmp" "$audit_rules_file"
then
# Rule is found => verify yet if existing rule definition contains
# all of the required access type bits
# Define BRE whitespace class shortcut
sp="[[:space:]]"
# Extract current permission access types (e.g. -p [r|w|x|a] values) from audit rule
current_access_bits=$(sed -ne "s#$sp*-w$sp\+/run/utmp $sp\+-p$sp\+\([rxwa]\{1,4\}\).*#\1#p" "$audit_rules_file")
# Split required access bits string into characters array
# (to check bit's presence for one bit at a time)
for access_bit in $(echo "wa" | grep -o .)
do
# For each from the required access bits (e.g. 'w', 'a') check
# if they are already present in current access bits for rule.
# If not, append that bit at the end
if ! grep -q "$access_bit" <<< "$current_access_bits"
then
# Concatenate the existing mask with the missing bit
current_access_bits="$current_access_bits$access_bit"
fi
done
# Propagate the updated rule's access bits (original + the required
# ones) back into the /etc/audit/audit.rules file for that rule
sed -i "s#\($sp*-w$sp\+/run/utmp$sp\+-p$sp\+\)\([rxwa]\{1,4\}\)\(.*\)#\1$current_access_bits\3#" "$audit_rules_file"
else
# Rule isn't present yet. Append it at the end of $audit_rules_file file
# with proper key
echo "-w /run/utmp -p wa -k session" >> "$audit_rules_file"
fi
done
# 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/$key.rules |
# -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
files_to_inspect=()
# If the audit is 'augenrules', then check if rule is already defined
# If rule is defined, add '/etc/audit/rules.d/*.rules' to list of files for inspection.
# If rule isn't defined, add '/etc/audit/rules.d/session.rules' to list of files for inspection.
readarray -t matches < <(grep -HP "[\s]*-w[\s]+/run/utmp" /etc/audit/rules.d/*.rules)
# For each of the matched entries
for match in "${matches[@]}"
do
# Extract filepath from the match
rulesd_audit_file=$(echo $match | cut -f1 -d ':')
# Append that path into list of files for inspection
files_to_inspect+=("$rulesd_audit_file")
done
# Case when particular audit rule isn't defined yet
if [ "${#files_to_inspect[@]}" -eq "0" ]
then
# Append '/etc/audit/rules.d/session.rules' into list of files for inspection
key_rule_file="/etc/audit/rules.d/session.rules"
# If the session.rules file doesn't exist yet, create it with correct permissions
if [ ! -e "$key_rule_file" ]
then
touch "$key_rule_file"
chmod 0640 "$key_rule_file"
fi
files_to_inspect+=("$key_rule_file")
fi
# Finally perform the inspection and possible subsequent audit rule
# correction for each of the files previously identified for inspection
for audit_rules_file in "${files_to_inspect[@]}"
do
# Check if audit watch file system object rule for given path already present
if grep -q -P -- "^[\s]*-w[\s]+/run/utmp" "$audit_rules_file"
then
# Rule is found => verify yet if existing rule definition contains
# all of the required access type bits
# Define BRE whitespace class shortcut
sp="[[:space:]]"
# Extract current permission access types (e.g. -p [r|w|x|a] values) from audit rule
current_access_bits=$(sed -ne "s#$sp*-w$sp\+/run/utmp $sp\+-p$sp\+\([rxwa]\{1,4\}\).*#\1#p" "$audit_rules_file")
# Split required access bits string into characters array
# (to check bit's presence for one bit at a time)
for access_bit in $(echo "wa" | grep -o .)
do
# For each from the required access bits (e.g. 'w', 'a') check
# if they are already present in current access bits for rule.
# If not, append that bit at the end
if ! grep -q "$access_bit" <<< "$current_access_bits"
then
# Concatenate the existing mask with the missing bit
current_access_bits="$current_access_bits$access_bit"
fi
done
# Propagate the updated rule's access bits (original + the required
# ones) back into the /etc/audit/audit.rules file for that rule
sed -i "s#\($sp*-w$sp\+/run/utmp$sp\+-p$sp\+\)\([rxwa]\{1,4\}\)\(.*\)#\1$current_access_bits\3#" "$audit_rules_file"
else
# Rule isn't present yet. Append it at the end of $audit_rules_file file
# with proper key
echo "-w /run/utmp -p wa -k session" >> "$audit_rules_file"
fi
done
else
>&2 echo 'Remediation is not applicable, nothing was done'
fi