The macOS system must configure audit_control owner to root.

Overview

Finding ID	Version	Rule ID	IA Controls	Severity
V-268474	APPL-15-001120	SV-268474r1034362_rule		Medium

Description

/etc/security/audit_control must have the owner set to root. The audit service must be configured with the correct ownership to prevent normal users from manipulating audit log configurations. Satisfies: SRG-OS-000057-GPOS-00027, SRG-OS-000058-GPOS-00028, SRG-OS-000059-GPOS-00029, SRG-OS-000063-GPOS-00032, 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-72504r1034360_chk)

Verify the macOS system is configured with the audit_control owner to root with the following command:

/bin/ls -dn /etc/security/audit_control | /usr/bin/awk '{print $3}'

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

Fix Text (F-72405r1034361_fix)

Configure the macOS system with the audit_control owner to root with the following command:

/usr/sbin/chown root /etc/security/audit_control