AlmaLinux OS 9 /etc/audit/auditd.conf file must have 0640 or less permissive to prevent unauthorized access.

Without the capability to restrict which roles and individuals can select which events are audited, unauthorized personnel may be able to prevent the auditing of critical events. Misconfigured audits may degrade the system's performance by overwhelming the audit log. Misconfigured audits may also make it more difficult to establish, correlate, and investigate the events relating to an incident or identify those responsible for one.

Verify the mode of /etc/audit/auditd.conf with the command:

$ stat -c "%#a %n" /etc/audit/auditd.conf

0640 /etc/audit/auditd.conf

If "/etc/audit/auditd.conf" does not have a mode of "0640", this is a finding.

Set the mode of /etc/audit/auditd.conf file to 0640 with the command:

$ chmod 0640 /etc/audit/auditd.conf