DISA STIGS Viewer

AlmaLinux OS 9 System Administrator (SA) and/or information system security officer (ISSO) (at a minimum) must be alerted of an audit processing failure event.

Overview

Finding ID Version Rule ID IA Controls Severity
V-269523 ALMA-09-053810 SV-269523r1050406_rule   Medium
Description
It is critical for the appropriate personnel to be aware if a system is at risk of failing to process audit logs as required. Without this notification, the security personnel may be unaware of an impending failure of the audit capability, and system operation may be adversely affected. Audit processing failures include software/hardware errors, failures in the audit capturing mechanisms, and audit storage capacity being reached or exceeded. This requirement applies to each audit data storage repository (i.e., distinct information system component where audit records are stored), the centralized audit storage capacity of organizations (i.e., all audit data storage repositories combined), or both.
STIG Date
CloudLinux AlmaLinux OS 9 Security Technical Implementation Guide 2025-05-22

Details

Check Text (C-73554r1049922_chk)
Verify that AlmaLinux OS 9 is configured to notify the SA and/or ISSO (at a minimum) in the event of an audit processing failure with the following command:

$ grep action_mail_acct /etc/audit/auditd.conf

action_mail_acct = root

If the value of the "action_mail_acct" keyword is not set to "root" and/or other accounts for security personnel, the "action_mail_acct" keyword is missing, or the retuned line is commented out, ask the SA to indicate how they and the ISSO are notified of an audit process failure (e.g. using syslog). If there is no evidence of the proper personnel being notified of an audit processing failure, this is a finding.
Fix Text (F-73455r1048946_fix)
Configure the "auditd" service to notify the SA and ISSO in the event of an audit processing failure.

Edit the following line in "/etc/audit/auditd.conf" to ensure that administrators are notified via email for those situations:

action_mail_acct = root