STIGUI
V-258176CAT II — Medium severitySV-258176r1155595_rule

RHEL 9 must audit uses of the "execve" system call.

Rule version RHEL-09-654010 · STIG v2 · 2026-09-17

Discussion

Misuse of privileged functions, either intentionally or unintentionally by authorized users, or by unauthorized external entities that have compromised information system accounts, is a serious and ongoing concern and can have significant adverse impacts on organizations. Auditing the use of privileged functions is one way to detect such misuse and identify the risk from insider threats and the advanced persistent threat.

Satisfies: SRG-OS-000326-GPOS-00126, SRG-OS-000327-GPOS-00127

Check

Verify RHEL 9 is configured to audit the execution of the "execve" system call with the following command:

$ sudo auditctl -l | grep execve

-a always,exit -F arch=b32 -S execve -C uid!=euid -F euid=0 -k execpriv -a always,exit -F arch=b64 -S execve -C uid!=euid -F euid=0 -k execpriv -a always,exit -F arch=b32 -S execve -C gid!=egid -F egid=0 -k execpriv -a always,exit -F arch=b64 -S execve -C gid!=egid -F egid=0 -k execpriv

If the command does not return all lines, or the lines are commented out, this is a finding.

Fix

Configure RHEL 9 to audit the execution of the "execve" system call.

Add or update the following file system rules to "/etc/audit/rules.d/audit.rules":

-a always,exit -F arch=b32 -S execve -C uid!=euid -F euid=0 -k execpriv -a always,exit -F arch=b64 -S execve -C uid!=euid -F euid=0 -k execpriv -a always,exit -F arch=b32 -S execve -C gid!=egid -F egid=0 -k execpriv -a always,exit -F arch=b64 -S execve -C gid!=egid -F egid=0 -k execpriv

To load the rules to the kernel immediately, use the following command:

$ sudo augenrules --load

Identifiers

Group ID
V-258176
Group title
SRG-OS-000326-GPOS-00126
Rule ID
SV-258176r1155595_rule
Check ID
C-61917r1155594_chk
Fix ID
F-61841r1045312_fix