STIGUI
V-258219CAT II — Medium severitySV-258219r1210921_rule

RHEL 9 must generate audit records for all account creations, modifications, disabling, and termination events that affect /etc/group.

Rule version RHEL-09-654225 · STIG v2 · 2026-09-17

Discussion

In addition to auditing new user and group accounts, these watches will alert the system administrator(s) to any modifications. Any unexpected users, groups, or modifications must be investigated for legitimacy.

Satisfies: SRG-OS-000004-GPOS-00004, SRG-OS-000037-GPOS-00015, SRG-OS-000042-GPOS-00020, SRG-OS-000062-GPOS-00031, SRG-OS-000304-GPOS-00121, SRG-OS-000392-GPOS-00172, SRG-OS-000462-GPOS-00206, SRG-OS-000470-GPOS-00214, SRG-OS-000471-GPOS-00215, SRG-OS-000239-GPOS-00089, SRG-OS-000240-GPOS-00090, SRG-OS-000241-GPOS-00091, SRG-OS-000303-GPOS-00120, SRG-OS-000466-GPOS-00210, SRG-OS-000476-GPOS-00221

Check

Verify RHEL 9 generates audit records for all account creations, modifications, disabling, and termination events that affect "/etc/group" with the following command:

$ sudo auditctl -l | egrep '(/etc/group)' -a always,exit -F arch=b32 -F path=/etc/group -F perm=wa -k identity -a always,exit -F arch=b64 -F path=/etc/group -F perm=wa -k identity

If the command does not return a line, or the line is commented out, this is a finding.

Fix

Configure RHEL 9 to generate audit records for all account creations, modifications, disabling, and termination events that affect "/etc/group".

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

-a always,exit -F arch=b32 -F path=/etc/group -F perm=wa -k identity -a always,exit -F arch=b64 -F path=/etc/group -F perm=wa -k identity

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

$ sudo augenrules --load

Identifiers

Group ID
V-258219
Group title
SRG-OS-000004-GPOS-00004
Rule ID
SV-258219r1210921_rule
Check ID
C-61960r1210895_chk
Fix ID
F-61884r1210896_fix