System log files must be mode 640 or less permissive.

Overview

Finding ID	Version	Rule ID	IA Controls	Severity
V-58501	AOSX-09-002106	SV-72931r1_rule		Medium

Description
System logs should only be readable by root or admin users. System logs frequently contain sensitive information that could be used by an attacker. Setting the correct permissions mitigates this risk.

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

Details

Check Text ( C-59351r1_chk )
These commands check for log files that exist on the system and print out the log with corresponding permissions. Run them from inside /var/log: sudo stat -f '%A:%N' $(grep -v '^#' /etc/newsyslog.conf \| awk '{ print $1 }') 2> /dev/null sudo stat -f '%A:%N' $(grep -e '^>' /etc/asl.conf /etc/asl/* \| awk '{ print $2 }') 2> /dev/null The correct permissions on log files should be '640' or less permissive for system logs. Any file with more permissive settings is a finding.

Check Text ( C-59351r1_chk )

These commands check for log files that exist on the system and print out the log with corresponding permissions. Run them from inside /var/log:

sudo stat -f '%A:%N' $(grep -v '^#' /etc/newsyslog.conf | awk '{ print $1 }') 2> /dev/null
sudo stat -f '%A:%N' $(grep -e '^>' /etc/asl.conf /etc/asl/* | awk '{ print $2 }') 2> /dev/null

The correct permissions on log files should be '640' or less permissive for system logs. Any file with more permissive settings is a finding.

Fix Text (F-63839r1_fix)
For any log file that returns an incorrect permission value, run the following command: sudo chmod 640 [log file] [log file] is the full path to the log file in question. If the file is managed by newsyslog, find the configuration line in the directory /etc/newsyslog.d/ or the file /etc/newsyslog.conf and edit the mode column to be 640 or less permissive. If the file is managed by aslmanager, find the configuration line in the directory /etc/asl/ or the file /etc/asl.conf and add or edit the mode option to be 'mode=0640' or less permissive.

Fix Text (F-63839r1_fix)

For any log file that returns an incorrect permission value, run the following command:

sudo chmod 640 [log file]

[log file] is the full path to the log file in question.

If the file is managed by newsyslog, find the configuration line in the directory /etc/newsyslog.d/ or the file /etc/newsyslog.conf and edit the mode column to be 640 or less permissive.

If the file is managed by aslmanager, find the configuration line in the directory /etc/asl/ or the file /etc/asl.conf and add or edit the mode option to be 'mode=0640' or less permissive.