AIX time synchronization configuration file must be group-owned by bin, or system.

Overview

Finding ID	Version	Rule ID	IA Controls	Severity
V-215273	AIX7-00-002082	SV-215273r508663_rule		Medium

Description
A synchronized system clock is critical for the enforcement of time-based policies and the correlation of logs and audit records with other systems. If an illicit time source is used for synchronization, the integrity of system logs and the security of the system could be compromised. If the configuration files controlling time synchronization are not owned by a system group, unauthorized modifications could result in the failure of time synchronization.

Description

A synchronized system clock is critical for the enforcement of time-based policies and the correlation of logs and audit records with other systems. If an illicit time source is used for synchronization, the integrity of system logs and the security of the system could be compromised. If the configuration files controlling time synchronization are not owned by a system group, unauthorized modifications could result in the failure of time synchronization.

STIG	Date
IBM AIX 7.x Security Technical Implementation Guide	2023-08-23

Details

Check Text ( C-16471r294270_chk )
Check "/etc/ntp.conf" file group ownership: # ls -al /etc/ntp.conf The above command should yield the following output: -rw-r----- 1 root system 993 Aug 25 18:26 /etc/ntp.conf If the file is not group-owned by "system", this is a finding.

Fix Text (F-16469r294271_fix)
Change the group owner of the files in "/etc/news" to "system" using: # chgrp system /etc/ntp.conf