The AIX cron and crontab directories must be group-owned by cron.

Overview

Finding ID	Version	Rule ID	IA Controls	Severity
V-245569	AIX7-00-002150	SV-245569r991589_rule		Medium

Description

Incorrect group ownership of the cron or crontab directories could permit unauthorized users the ability to alter cron jobs and run automated jobs as privileged users. Failure to give ownership of cron or crontab directories to root or to bin provides the designated owner and unauthorized users with the potential to access sensitive information or change the system configuration which could weaken the system's security posture.

STIG	Date
IBM AIX 7.x Security Technical Implementation Guide	2024-08-16

Details

Check Text (C-48848r832904_chk)

Check the group owner of the "crontab" directory using command:

# ls -ld /var/spool/cron/crontabs
drwxrwx--- 2 bin cron 256 Jan 25 12:33 /var/spool/cron/crontabs

If the group owner of the "crontab" directory is not "cron", this is a finding.

Fix Text (F-48803r832905_fix)

Change the group owner of the "crontab" directory:
# chgrp cron /var/spool/cron/crontabs