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 cron service can be enabled with the following command:

$ sudo systemctl enable cron.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_cron_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: about 1 month ago

Remediation Templates

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

include enable_cron
class enable_cron {
  service {'cron':
    enable => true,
    ensure => 'running',
  }
}

- name: Gather the package facts
  package_facts:
    manager: auto
  tags:
  - NIST-800-53-CM-6(a)
  - enable_strategy  - low_complexity
  - low_disruption
  - medium_severity
  - no_reboot_needed
  - service_cron_enabled
- name: Enable cron Service - Enable service cron
  block:

  - name: Gather the package facts
    package_facts:
      manager: auto

  - name: Enable cron Service - Enable Service cron
    ansible.builtin.systemd:
      name: cron
      enabled: true
      state: started
      masked: false
    when:
    - '"cron" in ansible_facts.packages'
  when: '"kernel" in ansible_facts.packages'
  tags:
  - NIST-800-53-CM-6(a)
  - enable_strategy
  - low_complexity
  - low_disruption
  - medium_severity
  - no_reboot_needed
  - service_cron_enabled

Enable cron Service

Description

Rationale

Remediation Templates

OS Build Blueprint

A Puppet Snippet

An Ansible Snippet