STIGUI
V-253101CAT II — Medium severitySV-253101r991589_rule

Cron logging must be implemented in TOSS.

Rule version TOSS-04-040590 · STIG v2 · 2026-08-20

Discussion

Cron logging can be used to trace the successful or unsuccessful execution of cron jobs. It can also be used to spot intrusions into the use of the cron facility by unauthorized and malicious users.

Check

Verify that "rsyslog" is configured to log cron events with the following command:

Note: If another logging package is used, substitute the utility configuration file for "/etc/rsyslog.conf" or "/etc/rsyslog.d/*.conf" files.

$ sudo grep -r cron /etc/rsyslog.conf /etc/rsyslog.d

/etc/rsyslog.conf:*.info;mail.none;authpriv.none;cron.none /var/log/messages /etc/rsyslog.conf:# Log cron stuff /etc/rsyslog.conf:cron.* /var/log/cron

If the command does not return a response, check for cron logging all facilities with the following command.

$ sudo grep -r /var/log/messages /etc/rsyslog.conf /etc/rsyslog.d

/etc/rsyslog.conf:*.info;mail.none;authpriv.none;cron.none /var/log/messages

If "rsyslog" is not logging messages for the cron facility or all facilities, this is a finding.

Fix

Configure "rsyslog" to log all cron messages by adding or updating the following line to "/etc/rsyslog.conf" or a configuration file in the /etc/rsyslog.d/ directory:

cron.* /var/log/cron

The rsyslog daemon must be restarted for the changes to take effect: $ sudo systemctl restart rsyslog.service

Identifiers

Group ID
V-253101
Group title
SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227
Rule ID
SV-253101r991589_rule
Check ID
C-56554r824973_chk
Fix ID
F-56504r824974_fix