AIX cron and crontab directories must be owned by root or bin.

Overview

Finding ID	Version	Rule ID	IA Controls	Severity
V-215270	AIX7-00-002078	SV-215270r508663_rule		Medium

Description
Incorrect ownership of the cron or crontab directories could permit unauthorized users the ability to alter cron jobs and run automated jobs as privileged users. Failure to give ownership of cron or crontab directories to root or to bin provides the designated owner and unauthorized users with the potential to access sensitive information or change the system configuration which could weaken the system's security posture.

Description

Incorrect ownership of the cron or crontab directories could permit unauthorized users the ability to alter cron jobs and run automated jobs as privileged users. Failure to give ownership of cron or crontab directories to root or to bin provides the designated owner and unauthorized users with the potential to access sensitive information or change the system configuration which could weaken the system's security posture.

STIG	Date
IBM AIX 7.x Security Technical Implementation Guide	2023-02-13

Details

Check Text ( C-16468r294261_chk )
Check the owner of the "crontab" directory using command: # ls -ld /var/spool/cron/crontabs drwxrwx--- 2 bin cron 256 Jan 25 12:33 /var/spool/cron/crontabs If the owner of the "crontab" directory is not "root" or "bin", this is a finding.

Fix Text (F-16466r294262_fix)
Change the owner of the "crontab" directory: # chown root /var/spool/cron/crontabs