AlmaLinux OS 9 must mount /var/log/audit with the noexec option.

Overview

Finding ID	Version	Rule ID	IA Controls	Severity
V-269321	ALMA-09-027300	SV-269321r1050203_rule		Medium

Description

The "noexec" mount option causes the system to not execute binary files. This option must be used for mounting any file system not containing approved binary files, as they may be incompatible. Executing files from untrusted file systems increases the opportunity for nonprivileged users to attain unauthorized administrative access.

STIG	Date
CloudLinux AlmaLinux OS 9 Security Technical Implementation Guide	2025-05-22

Details

Check Text (C-73352r1048339_chk)

Verify "/var/log/audit" is mounted with the "noexec" option:

$ mount | grep /var/log/audit

/dev/mapper/luks-29b74747-2f82-4472-82f5-0b5eb763effc on /var/log/audit type xfs (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime,seclabel,attr2,inode64,logbufs=8,logbsize=32k,noquota)

If the "/var/log/audit" file system is mounted without the "noexec" option, this is a finding.

Fix Text (F-73253r1048340_fix)

Modify "/etc/fstab" to use the "noexec" option on the "/var/log/audit" directory.