The operating system must audit all account enabling actions.

Overview

Finding ID	Version	Rule ID	IA Controls	Severity
V-57221	SRG-OS-000303-GPOS-00120	SV-71481r1_rule		Medium

Description
Once an attacker establishes initial access to a system, the attacker often attempts to create a persistent method of reestablishing access. One way to accomplish this is for the attacker to simply enable a new or disabled account. Notification of account enabling is one method for mitigating this risk. A comprehensive account management process will ensure an audit trail, which documents the creation of operating system user accounts and notifies System Administrators and Information System Security Officers (ISSO) that it exists. Such a process greatly reduces the risk that accounts will be surreptitiously created and provides logging that can be used for forensic purposes. To address access requirements, many operating systems can 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 reestablishing access. One way to accomplish this is for the attacker to simply enable a new or disabled account. Notification of account enabling is one method for mitigating this risk. A comprehensive account management process will ensure an audit trail, which documents the creation of operating system user accounts and notifies System Administrators and Information System Security Officers (ISSO) that it exists. Such a process greatly reduces the risk that accounts will be surreptitiously created and provides logging that can be used for forensic purposes. To address access requirements, many operating systems can be integrated with enterprise-level authentication/access/auditing mechanisms that meet or exceed access control policy requirements.

STIG	Date
General Purpose Operating System SRG	2015-06-26

Details

Check Text ( C-57817r1_chk )
Verify the operating system automatically audits account enabling actions. If it does not, this is a finding.

Fix Text (F-62141r1_fix)
Configure the operating system to automatically audit account enabling actions.