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4.1.1 Ensure cron daemon is enabled and active

Information

The cron daemon is used to execute batch jobs on the system.

Note: Other methods, such as systemd timers, exist for scheduling jobs. If another method is used, cron should be removed, and the alternate method should be secured in accordance with local site policy

While there may not be user jobs that need to be run on the system, the system does have maintenance jobs that may include security monitoring that have to run, and cron is used to execute them.

Solution

Run the following command to enable and start cron :

# systemctl unmask cron
# systemctl --now enable cron

See Also

https://workbench.cisecurity.org/benchmarks/15023

Item Details

Category: CONFIGURATION MANAGEMENT, IDENTIFICATION AND AUTHENTICATION

References: 800-53|CM-1, 800-53|CM-2, 800-53|CM-6, 800-53|CM-7, 800-53|IA-5

Plugin: Unix

Control ID: 9e340a4c09a598d6bf308dc9b892cd29f9f9efb03c749f13863e83968921e910