STIGUI
V-271818CAT II — Medium severitySV-271818r1092166_rule

OL 9 /var/log directory must be group-owned by root.

Rule version OL09-00-002560 · STIG v1 · 2026-08-21

Discussion

Only authorized personnel should be aware of errors and the details of the errors. Error messages are an indicator of an organization's operational state or can identify the OL 9 system or platform. Additionally, personally identifiable information (PII) and operational information must not be revealed through error messages to unauthorized personnel or their designated representatives.

The structure and content of error messages must be carefully considered by the organization and development team. The extent to which the information system is able to identify and handle error conditions is guided by organizational policy and operational requirements.

Check

Verify that OL 9 configures the "/var/log" directory to be group-owned by root with the following command:

$ ls -ld /var/log drwxr-xr-x. 16 root root 4096 July 11 11:34 /var/log

If "/var/log" does not have a group owner of "root", this is a finding.

Fix

Configure the group owner of the directory "/var/log" to "root" by running the following command:

$ sudo chgrp root /var/log

Identifiers

Group ID
V-271818
Group title
SRG-OS-000206-GPOS-00084
Rule ID
SV-271818r1092166_rule
Check ID
C-75868r1092164_chk
Fix ID
F-75775r1092165_fix