The operating system must automatically audit account creation.

Overview

Finding ID	Version	Rule ID	IA Controls	Severity
V-58287	AOSX-09-000120	SV-72717r1_rule		Medium

Description
Once an attacker establishes initial access to a system, the attacker often attempts to create a persistent method of re-establishing access. One way to accomplish this is for the attacker to create a new account. Auditing of account creation mitigates this risk. To address access requirements, many operating systems may be integrated with enterprise level authentication/access/auditing mechanisms that meet or exceed access control policy requirements.

Description

Once an attacker establishes initial access to a system, the attacker often attempts to create a persistent method of re-establishing access. One way to accomplish this is for the attacker to create a new account. Auditing of account creation mitigates this risk. To address access requirements, many operating systems may be integrated with enterprise level authentication/access/auditing mechanisms that meet or exceed access control policy requirements.

STIG	Date
Apple OS X 10.9 (Mavericks) Workstation Security Technical Implementation Guide	2017-01-05

Details

Check Text ( C-59113r1_chk )
In order to view the currently configured flags for the audit daemon, run the following command: sudo grep ^flags /etc/security/audit_control The account creation events are logged by way of the 'ad' flag. If 'ad' is not listed in the result of the check, this is a finding.

Fix Text (F-63603r1_fix)
To make sure the appropriate flags are enabled for auditing, run the following command: sudo sed -i.bak '/^flags/ s/$/,ad/' /etc/security/audit_control; sudo audit -s A text editor may also be used to implement the required update to the /etc/security/audit_control file.