Ensure access to /etc/crontab is configured

MediumLevel 1Automatedlinux

Description

The /etc/crontab file is used by cron to control its own jobs. The commands in this item make sure that root is the user and group owner of the file and that only the owner can access the file.

How it is checked

Audit method: Shell command

shell

alt0() { s=$(stat -Lc '%a %u %g' /etc/crontab 2>&1) || { echo "step1: $s"; return 1; }; set -- $s; m=$((8#$1)); [ $((m & ~0600)) -eq 0 ] && [ "$2" = 0 ] && [ "$3" = 0 ] || { echo "step1: /etc/crontab is mode $1 uid $2 gid $3, want 600 or stricter, uid 0, gid 0"; return 1; }; }; if alt0; then echo compliant; fi

Expected output: compliant

How it is fixed

Fix method: Guidance or infrastructure patch

- IF - cron is installed on the system: Run the following commands to set ownership and permissions on /etc/crontab: # chown root:root /etc/crontab # chmod og-rwx /etc/crontab

Properties

Operating systems: rocky-9
Tags: cis-convertedlinux
Reference: CIS Rocky Linux 9 Benchmark v3.0.0 - 2.4.1.2

Check this host

Run this on a machine you are allowed to audit. The scan is read-only.

shell

tmaegis scan --target linux