Exchange Audit data must be on separate partitions.

Overview

Finding ID	Version	Rule ID	IA Controls	Severity
V-228369	EX16-MB-000160	SV-228369r879582_rule		Medium

Description
Log files help establish a history of activities and can be useful in detecting attack attempts or determining tuning adjustments to improve availability. Audit log content must always be considered sensitive and in need of protection. Successful exploit of an application server vulnerability may well be logged by monitoring or audit processes when it occurs. Writing log and audit data to a separate partition where separate security contexts protect them may offer the ability to protect this information from being modified or removed by the exploit mechanism.

Description

Log files help establish a history of activities and can be useful in detecting attack attempts or determining tuning adjustments to improve availability. Audit log content must always be considered sensitive and in need of protection. Successful exploit of an application server vulnerability may well be logged by monitoring or audit processes when it occurs. Writing log and audit data to a separate partition where separate security contexts protect them may offer the ability to protect this information from being modified or removed by the exploit mechanism.

STIG	Date
Microsoft Exchange 2016 Mailbox Server Security Technical Implementation Guide	2023-12-18

Details

Check Text ( C-30602r496903_chk )
Review the Email Domain Security Plan (EDSP) or document that contains this information. Determine the audit logs' assigned partition. By default, the logs are located on the application partition in \Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\V15\Logging. If the log files are not on a separate partition from the application, this is a finding.

Fix Text (F-30587r496904_fix)
Update the EDSP to specify the audit logs' assigned partition or verify that this information is documented by the organization. Configure the audit log location to be on a partition drive separate from the application.