The macOS system must configure the audit log files group to wheel.

Overview

Finding ID	Version	Rule ID	IA Controls	Severity
V-268458	APPL-15-001014	SV-268458r1034314_rule		Medium

Description

Audit log files must have the group set to wheel. The audit service must be configured to create log files with the correct group ownership to prevent normal users from reading audit logs. Audit logs contain sensitive data about the system and users. If log files are set to be readable and writable only by system administrators, the risk is mitigated. Satisfies: SRG-OS-000057-GPOS-00027, SRG-OS-000058-GPOS-00028, SRG-OS-000059-GPOS-00029, SRG-OS-000256-GPOS-00097, SRG-OS-000257-GPOS-00098, SRG-OS-000258-GPOS-00099

STIG	Date
Apple macOS 15 (Sequoia) Security Technical Implementation Guide	2025-05-05

Details

Check Text (C-72488r1034312_chk)

Verify the macOS system is configured with audit log files group-owned by wheel with the following command:

/bin/ls -n $(/usr/bin/grep '^dir' /etc/security/audit_control | /usr/bin/awk -F: '{print $2}') | /usr/bin/awk '{s+=$4} END {print s}'

If the result is not "0", this is a finding.

Fix Text (F-72389r1034313_fix)

Configure the macOS system with audit log files group-owned by wheel with the following command:

/usr/bin/chgrp -R wheel /var/audit/*