STIGUI
V-275606CAT II — Medium severitySV-275606r1147868_rule

Ubuntu OS must be configured so that the "journalctl" command is not accessible by unauthorized users.

Rule version RIIM-OS-232140 · STIG v1 · 2025-10-02

Discussion

Any operating system providing too much information in error messages risks compromising the data and security of the structure, and content of error messages needs to be carefully considered by the organization.

Organizations carefully consider the structure/content of error messages. The extent to which information systems are able to identify and handle error conditions is guided by organizational policy and operational requirements. Information that could be exploited by adversaries includes, for example, erroneous logon attempts with passwords entered in error as the username, mission/business information that can be derived from (if not stated explicitly by) information recorded, and personal information, such as account numbers, social security numbers, and credit card numbers.

Check

Verify that the "journalctl" command has a permission set of "740" by using the following command:

     $ sudo find /usr/bin/journalctl -exec stat -c "%n %a" {} \; 
     /usr/bin/journalctl 740 

If "journalctl" is not set to "740", this is a finding.

Fix

Configure "journalctl" to have a permission set of "740":

     $ sudo chmod 740 /usr/bin/journalctl

Identifiers

Group ID
V-275606
Group title
SRG-OS-000205-GPOS-00083
Rule ID
SV-275606r1147868_rule
Check ID
C-79708r1147866_chk
Fix ID
F-79613r1147867_fix