Information
Protecting audit data also includes identifying and protecting the tools used to view and manipulate log data.
Depending upon the log format and application, system and application log tools may provide the only means to manipulate and manage application and system log data. It is, therefore, imperative that access to audit tools be controlled and protected from unauthorized access.
Applications providing tools to interface with audit data will leverage user permissions and roles identifying the user accessing the tools and the corresponding rights the user enjoys to make access decisions regarding the access to audit tools.
Audit tools include, but are not limited to, OS-provided audit tools, vendor-provided audit tools, and open source audit tools needed to successfully view and manipulate audit information system activity and records.
If an attacker were to gain access to audit tools, he could analyze audit logs for system weaknesses or weaknesses in the auditing itself. An attacker could also manipulate logs to hide evidence of malicious activity.
NOTE: Nessus has not performed this check. Please review the benchmark to ensure target compliance.
Solution
If the audit.log file permissions do not comply with organization's standards, change the permissions. Example:
$ chown user:group /path/to/audit.log
$ chmod 660 /path/to/audit.log
If the MariaDB server is configured to use syslog for logging, consult the organization's syslog setting for permissions and ownership of logs with respect to who can modify them.