STIGQter: STIG Summary: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 Security Technical Implementation Guide Version: 2 Release: 9 Benchmark Date: 01 Jul 2026:

RHEL 9 System Administrator (SA) and/or information system security officer (ISSO) (at a minimum) must be alerted of an audit processing failure event.

DISA Rule

SV-258163r958424_rule

Vulnerability Number

V-258163

Group Title

SRG-OS-000046-GPOS-00022

Rule Version

RHEL-09-653070

Severity

CAT II

CCI(s)

• CCI-000139 - Alert organization-defined personnel or roles within an organization-defined time period in the event of an audit logging process failure.
• CCI-001855 - Provide a warning to organization-defined personnel, roles, and/or locations within an organization-defined time period when allocated audit log storage volume reaches an organization-defined percentage of repository maximum audit log storage capacity.

Weight

10

Fix Recommendation

Configure "auditd" service to notify the SA and ISSO in the event of an audit processing failure.

Edit the following line in "/etc/audit/auditd.conf" to ensure that administrators are notified via email for those situations:

action_mail_acct = root

The audit daemon must be restarted for changes to take effect.

Check Contents

Verify that RHEL 9 is configured to notify the SA and/or ISSO (at a minimum) in the event of an audit processing failure with the following command:

$ sudo grep action_mail_acct /etc/audit/auditd.conf

action_mail_acct = root

If the value of the "action_mail_acct" keyword is not set to "root" and/or other accounts for security personnel, the "action_mail_acct" keyword is missing, or the retuned line is commented out, ask the SA to indicate how they and the ISSO are notified of an audit process failure. If there is no evidence of the proper personnel being notified of an audit processing failure, this is a finding.

Vulnerability Number

V-258163

Documentable

False

Rule Version

RHEL-09-653070

Severity Override Guidance

Verify that RHEL 9 is configured to notify the SA and/or ISSO (at a minimum) in the event of an audit processing failure with the following command:

$ sudo grep action_mail_acct /etc/audit/auditd.conf

action_mail_acct = root

If the value of the "action_mail_acct" keyword is not set to "root" and/or other accounts for security personnel, the "action_mail_acct" keyword is missing, or the retuned line is commented out, ask the SA to indicate how they and the ISSO are notified of an audit process failure. If there is no evidence of the proper personnel being notified of an audit processing failure, this is a finding.

Check Content Reference

M

Target Key

5551