Permissions for the System event log must prevent access by non-privileged accounts.

Overview

Finding ID	Version	Rule ID	IA Controls	Severity
V-224879	WN16-AU-000050	SV-224879r569186_rule		Medium

Description
Maintaining an audit trail of system activity logs can help identify configuration errors, troubleshoot service disruptions, and analyze compromises that have occurred, as well as detect attacks. Audit logs are necessary to provide a trail of evidence in case the system or network is compromised. The System event log may be susceptible to tampering if proper permissions are not applied. Satisfies: SRG-OS-000057-GPOS-00027, SRG-OS-000058-GPOS-00028, SRG-OS-000059-GPOS-00029

Description

Maintaining an audit trail of system activity logs can help identify configuration errors, troubleshoot service disruptions, and analyze compromises that have occurred, as well as detect attacks. Audit logs are necessary to provide a trail of evidence in case the system or network is compromised. The System event log may be susceptible to tampering if proper permissions are not applied. Satisfies: SRG-OS-000057-GPOS-00027, SRG-OS-000058-GPOS-00028, SRG-OS-000059-GPOS-00029

STIG	Date
Microsoft Windows Server 2016 Security Technical Implementation Guide	2020-10-15

Details

Check Text ( C-26570r465539_chk )
Navigate to the System event log file. The default location is the "%SystemRoot%\System32\winevt\Logs" folder. However, the logs may have been moved to another folder. If the permissions for the "System.evtx" file are not as restrictive as the default permissions listed below, this is a finding. Eventlog - Full Control SYSTEM - Full Control Administrators - Full Control

Fix Text (F-26558r465540_fix)
Configure the permissions on the System event log file (System.evtx) to prevent access by non-privileged accounts. The default permissions listed below satisfy this requirement: Eventlog - Full Control SYSTEM - Full Control Administrators - Full Control The default location is the "%SystemRoot%\ System32\winevt\Logs" folder. If the location of the logs has been changed, when adding Eventlog to the permissions, it must be entered as "NT Service\Eventlog".

Fix Text (F-26558r465540_fix)

Configure the permissions on the System event log file (System.evtx) to prevent access by non-privileged accounts. The default permissions listed below satisfy this requirement:

Eventlog - Full Control
SYSTEM - Full Control
Administrators - Full Control

The default location is the "%SystemRoot%\ System32\winevt\Logs" folder.

If the location of the logs has been changed, when adding Eventlog to the permissions, it must be entered as "NT Service\Eventlog".