Access to the cron utility must be controlled using the cron.allow and/or cron.deny file(s).

Overview

Finding ID	Version	Rule ID	IA Controls	Severity
V-974	GEN002960	SV-974r2_rule	ECLP-1	Medium

Description
The cron facility allows users to execute recurring jobs on a regular and unattended basis. The cron.allow file designates accounts that are allowed to enter and execute jobs using the cron facility. If neither cron.allow nor cron.deny exists, then any account may use the cron facility. This may open the facility up for abuse by system intruders and malicious users.

STIG	Date
VMware ESX 3 Server	2016-05-13

Details

Check Text ( C-786r2_chk )
Check for the existence of the cron.allow and cron.deny files. If neither file exists, this is a finding.

Fix Text (F-1128r2_fix)
Create a cron.allow and/or cron.deny file(s) with appropriate content in the appropriate directory for the system.