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CIS Ubuntu 18.04 LTS Benchmark

Rules and Groups employed by this XCCDF Profile

  • System Settings

    Contains rules that check correct system settings.
    Group
  • Installing and Maintaining Software

    The following sections contain information on security-relevant choices during the initial operating system installation process and the setup of s...
    Group
  • Disk Partitioning

    To ensure separation and protection of data, there are top-level system directories which should be placed on their own physical partition or logic...
    Group
  • Ensure /home Located On Separate Partition

    If user home directories will be stored locally, create a separate partition for <code>/home</code> at installation time (or migrate it later using...
    Rule Low Severity
  • Ensure /tmp Located On Separate Partition

    The <code>/tmp</code> directory is a world-writable directory used for temporary file storage. Ensure it has its own partition or logical volume at...
    Rule Low Severity
  • Ensure /var Located On Separate Partition

    The <code>/var</code> directory is used by daemons and other system services to store frequently-changing data. Ensure that <code>/var</code> has i...
    Rule Low Severity
  • Ensure /var/log Located On Separate Partition

    System logs are stored in the <code>/var/log</code> directory. Ensure that <code>/var/log</code> has its own partition or logical volume at instal...
    Rule Low Severity
  • Ensure /var/log/audit Located On Separate Partition

    Audit logs are stored in the <code>/var/log/audit</code> directory. Ensure that <code>/var/log/audit</code> has its own partition or logical volum...
    Rule Low Severity
  • Ensure /var/tmp Located On Separate Partition

    The <code>/var/tmp</code> directory is a world-writable directory used for temporary file storage. Ensure it has its own partition or logical volum...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Updating Software

    The <code>apt_get</code> command line tool is used to install and update software packages. The system also provides a graphical software update to...
    Group
  • Ensure Software Patches Installed

    If the system has an apt repository available, run the following command to install updates: <pre>$ apt update &amp;&amp; apt full-upgrade</pre> ...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • System Accounting with auditd

    The audit service provides substantial capabilities for recording system activities. By default, the service audits about SELinux AVC denials and c...
    Group
  • Enable auditd Service

    The <code>auditd</code> service is an essential userspace component of the Linux Auditing System, as it is responsible for writing audit records to...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Configure auditd Rules for Comprehensive Auditing

    The <code>auditd</code> program can perform comprehensive monitoring of system activity. This section describes recommended configuration settings ...
    Group
  • Record Events that Modify the System's Mandatory Access Controls

    If the <code>auditd</code> daemon is configured to use the <code>augenrules</code> program to read audit rules during daemon startup (the default),...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Record Events that Modify the System's Network Environment

    If the <code>auditd</code> daemon is configured to use the <code>augenrules</code> program to read audit rules during daemon startup (the default),...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Record Attempts to Alter Process and Session Initiation Information

    The audit system already collects process information for all users and root. If the <code>auditd</code> daemon is configured to use the <code>auge...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Ensure auditd Collects System Administrator Actions

    At a minimum, the audit system should collect administrator actions for all users and root. If the <code>auditd</code> daemon is configured to use ...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Records Events that Modify Date and Time Information

    Arbitrary changes to the system time can be used to obfuscate nefarious activities in log files, as well as to confuse network services that are hi...
    Group
  • Record attempts to alter time through adjtimex

    If the <code>auditd</code> daemon is configured to use the <code>augenrules</code> program to read audit rules during daemon startup (the default),...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Configure auditd Data Retention

    The audit system writes data to <code>/var/log/audit/audit.log</code>. By default, <code>auditd</code> rotates 5 logs by size (6MB), retaining a ma...
    Group
  • Configure auditd mail_acct Action on Low Disk Space

    The <code>auditd</code> service can be configured to send email to a designated account in certain situations. Add or correct the following line in...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Configure auditd admin_space_left Action on Low Disk Space

    The <code>auditd</code> service can be configured to take an action when disk space is running low but prior to running out of space completely. Ed...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Configure auditd Max Log File Size

    Determine the amount of audit data (in megabytes) which should be retained in each log file. Edit the file <code>/etc/audit/auditd.conf</code>. Add...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Configure auditd max_log_file_action Upon Reaching Maximum Log Size

    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 ta...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Configure auditd space_left Action on Low Disk Space

    The <code>auditd</code> service can be configured to take an action when disk space <i>starts</i> to run low. Edit the file <code>/etc/audit/auditd...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Network Configuration and Firewalls

    Most systems must be connected to a network of some sort, and this brings with it the substantial risk of network attack. This section discusses th...
    Group
  • Uncommon Network Protocols

    The system includes support for several network protocols which are not commonly used. Although security vulnerabilities in kernel networking code ...
    Group
  • Disable RDS Support

    The Reliable Datagram Sockets (RDS) protocol is a transport layer protocol designed to provide reliable high-bandwidth, low-latency communications ...
    Rule Low Severity
  • Disable TIPC Support

    The Transparent Inter-Process Communication (TIPC) protocol is designed to provide communications between nodes in a cluster. To configure the sys...
    Rule Low Severity
  • File Permissions and Masks

    Traditional Unix security relies heavily on file and directory permissions to prevent unauthorized users from reading or modifying files to which t...
    Group
  • Verify Permissions on Important Files and Directories

    Permissions for many files on a system must be set restrictively to ensure sensitive information is properly protected. This section discusses impo...
    Group
  • Verify that All World-Writable Directories Have Sticky Bits Set

    When the so-called 'sticky bit' is set on a directory, only the owner of a given file may remove that file from the directory. Without the sticky b...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Ensure No World-Writable Files Exist

    It is generally a good idea to remove global (other) write access to a file when it is discovered. However, check with documentation for specific a...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Verify Permissions on Files with Local Account Information and Credentials

    The default restrictive permissions for files which act as important security databases such as <code>passwd</code>, <code>shadow</code>, <code>gro...
    Group
  • Verify Group Who Owns Backup group File

    To properly set the group owner of /etc/group-, run the command:
    $ sudo chgrp root /etc/group-
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Verify Group Who Owns Backup gshadow File

    To properly set the group owner of /etc/gshadow-, run the command:
    $ sudo chgrp shadow /etc/gshadow-
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Verify Group Who Owns Backup passwd File

    To properly set the group owner of /etc/passwd-, run the command:
    $ sudo chgrp root /etc/passwd-
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Verify User Who Owns Backup shadow File

    To properly set the group owner of /etc/shadow-, run the command:
    $ sudo chgrp shadow /etc/shadow-
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Verify Group Who Owns group File

    To properly set the group owner of /etc/group, run the command:
    $ sudo chgrp root /etc/group
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Verify Group Who Owns gshadow File

    To properly set the group owner of /etc/gshadow, run the command:
    $ sudo chgrp shadow /etc/gshadow
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Verify Group Who Owns passwd File

    To properly set the group owner of /etc/passwd, run the command:
    $ sudo chgrp root /etc/passwd
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Verify Group Who Owns shadow File

    To properly set the group owner of /etc/shadow, run the command:
    $ sudo chgrp shadow /etc/shadow
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Verify User Who Owns Backup group File

    To properly set the owner of /etc/group-, run the command:
    $ sudo chown root /etc/group- 
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Verify User Who Owns Backup gshadow File

    To properly set the owner of /etc/gshadow-, run the command:
    $ sudo chown root /etc/gshadow- 
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Verify User Who Owns Backup passwd File

    To properly set the owner of /etc/passwd-, run the command:
    $ sudo chown root /etc/passwd- 
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Verify Group Who Owns Backup shadow File

    To properly set the owner of /etc/shadow-, run the command:
    $ sudo chown root /etc/shadow- 
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Verify User Who Owns group File

    To properly set the owner of /etc/group, run the command:
    $ sudo chown root /etc/group 
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Verify User Who Owns gshadow File

    To properly set the owner of /etc/gshadow, run the command:
    $ sudo chown root /etc/gshadow 
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Verify User Who Owns passwd File

    To properly set the owner of /etc/passwd, run the command:
    $ sudo chown root /etc/passwd 
    Rule Medium Severity

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