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Cron and crontab directories must be owned by root or bin.


Overview

Finding ID Version Rule ID IA Controls Severity
V-980 GEN003120 SV-45604r1_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.
STIG Date
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server v11 for System z Security Technical Implementation Guide 2018-09-19

Details

Check Text ( C-42970r1_chk )
Check the owner of the crontab directories.
Procedure:

# ls -ld /var/spool/cron /var/spool/cron/tabs


ls -ld /etc/crontab /etc/cron.{d,daily,hourly,monthly,weekly}
or
# ls -ld /etc/cron*|grep -v deny


If the owner of any of the crontab directories is not root or bin, this is a finding.
Fix Text (F-39002r1_fix)
Change the mode of the crontab directories.
# chown root