STIGQter: STIG Summary: VMware vSphere 8.0 vCenter Appliance Photon OS 4.0 Security Technical Implementation Guide Version: 2 Release: 2 Benchmark Date: 01 Jul 2026:

The Photon operating system must protect audit logs from unauthorized access.

DISA Rule

SV-258811r958434_rule

Vulnerability Number

V-258811

Group Title

SRG-OS-000057-GPOS-00027

Rule Version

PHTN-40-000026

Severity

CAT II

CCI(s)

• CCI-000162 - Protect audit information from unauthorized access.
• CCI-000163 - Protect audit information from unauthorized modification.
• CCI-000164 - Protect audit information from unauthorized deletion.

Weight

10

Fix Recommendation

At the command line, run the following commands:

# chmod 0600 <audit log file>
# chown root:root <audit log file>

Replace <audit log file> with the target log file.

Note: If "log_group" is configured in the auditd.conf file and set to something other than "root", the permissions changes will not be persistent.

Check Contents

At the command line, run the following command to find the current auditd log location:

# grep -iw log_file /etc/audit/auditd.conf

Example result:

log_file = /var/log/audit/audit.log

At the command line, run the following command using the file found in the previous step to verify auditd logs are protected from authorized access:

# stat -c "%n %U:%G %a" /var/log/audit/audit.log

Example result:

/var/log/audit/audit.log root:root 600

If the audit log file does not have permissions set to "0600", this is a finding.
If the audit log file is not owned by root, this is a finding.
If the audit log file is not group owned by root, this is a finding.

Vulnerability Number

V-258811

Documentable

False

Rule Version

PHTN-40-000026

Severity Override Guidance

At the command line, run the following command to find the current auditd log location:

# grep -iw log_file /etc/audit/auditd.conf

Example result:

log_file = /var/log/audit/audit.log

At the command line, run the following command using the file found in the previous step to verify auditd logs are protected from authorized access:

# stat -c "%n %U:%G %a" /var/log/audit/audit.log

Example result:

/var/log/audit/audit.log root:root 600

If the audit log file does not have permissions set to "0600", this is a finding.
If the audit log file is not owned by root, this is a finding.
If the audit log file is not group owned by root, this is a finding.

Check Content Reference

M

Target Key

5569