FILE_CHECK

Unix compliance audits typically test for the existence and settings of a given file. The “FILE_CHECK” audit uses four or more keywords to allow the specification of these checks. The keywords type, description, and file are mandatory and are followed by one or more checks. Current syntax supports checking for owner, group and file permissions.

It is possible to use globs in FILE_CHECK (e.g., /var/log/*). However, note that globs will only be expanded to files, not to directories. If a glob is specified and one or more matched files must be ignored from the search, use the “ignore” keyword to specify the files to ignore.

The allowed keywords are:

• uid: Numeric User ID (e.g., 0)
• gid: Numeric Group ID (e.g., 500)
• check_uneveness: YES
• system: System type (e.g., Linux)
• description: Text description of the file check
• file: Full path and file to check (e.g., /etc/sysconfig/sendmail)
• required: Specifies whether a check match is required or not (e.g., YES or NO). If this option is not set, it is assumed it is required.
• file_required: Specifies whether a file is required to be present or not (e.g., YES or NO). If this option is not set, it is assumed it is required.
• owner: Owner of the file (e.g., root)
• group: Group owner of the file (e.g., bin)
• mode: Permission mode (e.g., 644)
• mask: File umask (e.g., 133)
• md5: The MD5 hash of a file (e.g., 88d3dbe3760775a00b900a850b170fcd)
• ignore: A file to ignore (e.g., /var/log/secure)
• attr: A file attribute (e.g., ----i--------)

Multiple group ownership options (e.g., root or wheel) can be specified by using the || operator with the group keyword.

Example:

group: “root” || “wheel”

File permissions are considered uneven if the “group” or “other” have additional permissions than “owner” or if “other” has additional permissions than “group”.

Tip: For information about the parameters commonly found in Unix custom items, see Unix Configuration Keywords.

Examples: