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6.3.3.5 Ensure events that modify the system's network environment are collected

Warning! Audit Deprecated

This audit has been deprecated and will be removed in a future update.

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Information

Record changes to network environment files or system calls. The below parameters monitors the following system calls, and write an audit event on system call exit:

 - sethostname - set the systems host name
 - setdomainname - set the systems domain name

The files being monitored are:

 - /etc/issue and /etc/issue.net - messages displayed pre-login
 - /etc/hosts - file containing host names and associated IP addresses
 - /etc/hostname - file contains the system's host name
 - /etc/sysconfig/network - additional information that is valid to all network interfaces
 - /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ - directory containing network interface scripts and configurations files
 - /etc/NetworkManager/ - directory contains configuration files and settings used by the NetworkManager

Monitoring sethostname and setdomainname will identify potential unauthorized changes to host and domain name of a system. The changing of these names could potentially break security parameters that are set based on those names. The /etc/hosts file is monitored for changes that can indicate an unauthorized intruder is trying to change machine associations with IP addresses and trick users and processes into connecting to unintended machines. Monitoring /etc/issue and /etc/issue.net is important, as intruders could put disinformation into those files and trick users into providing information to the intruder. Monitoring /etc/sysconfig/network is important as it can show if network interfaces or scripts are being modified in a way that can lead to the machine becoming unavailable or compromised. All audit records should have a relevant tag associated with them.

Solution

Create audit rules

Edit or create a file in the /etc/audit/rules.d/ directory, ending in .rules extension, with the relevant rules to monitor events that modify the system's network environment.

Example:

# printf "
-a always,exit -F arch=b64 -S sethostname,setdomainname -k system-locale
-a always,exit -F arch=b32 -S sethostname,setdomainname -k system-locale
-w /etc/issue -p wa -k system-locale
-w /etc/issue.net -p wa -k system-locale
-w /etc/hosts -p wa -k system-locale
-w /etc/hostname -p wa -k system-locale
-w /etc/sysconfig/network -p wa -k system-locale
-w /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ -p wa -k system-locale
-w /etc/NetworkManager -p wa -k system-locale
" >> /etc/audit/rules.d/50-system_locale.rules

Load audit rules

Merge and load the rules into active configuration:

# augenrules --load

Check if reboot is required.

# if [[ $(auditctl -s | grep "enabled") =~ "2" ]]; then printf "Reboot required to load rules\n"; fi

See Also

https://workbench.cisecurity.org/benchmarks/18209

Item Details

References: CSCv7|5.5

Plugin: Unix

Control ID: c2b564d34705fad2ece9bf8abe05ebd8bb11cf2ce7b10125ad7d4d2884b2ec4e