The macOS system must configure system log files owned by root and group to wheel.

Overview

Finding ID	Version	Rule ID	IA Controls	Severity
V-268552	APPL-15-004030	SV-268552r1034596_rule		Medium

Description

The system log files must be owned by root. System logs contain sensitive data about the system and users. Setting log files to be readable and writable only by system administrators mitigates the risk. Satisfies: SRG-OS-000205-GPOS-00083, SRG-OS-000206-GPOS-00084

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

Details

Check Text (C-72582r1034594_chk)

Verify the macOS system is configured with system log files owned by root and group to wheel with the following command:

/usr/bin/stat -f '%Su:%Sg:%N' $(/usr/bin/grep -v '^#' /etc/newsyslog.conf | /usr/bin/awk '{ print $1 }') 2> /dev/null | /usr/bin/awk '!/^root:wheel:/{print $1}' | /usr/bin/wc -l | /usr/bin/tr -d ' '

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

Fix Text (F-72483r1034595_fix)

Configure the macOS system with system log files owned by root and group to wheel with the following command:

/usr/sbin/chown root:wheel $(/usr/bin/stat -f '%Su:%Sg:%N' $(/usr/bin/grep -v '^#' /etc/newsyslog.conf | /usr/bin/awk '{ print $1 }') 2> /dev/null | /usr/bin/awk -F":" '!/^root:wheel:/{print $3}')