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

RHEL 9 must audit any script or executable called by cron as root or by any privileged user.

DISA Rule

SV-279936r1210929_rule

Vulnerability Number

V-279936

Group Title

SRG-OS-000471-GPOS-00215

Rule Version

RHEL-09-654097

Severity

CAT II

CCI(s)

CCI-000172 - Generate audit records for the event types defined in AU-2 c that include the audit record content defined in AU-3.

Weight

Fix Recommendation

Configure RHEL 9 to audit the execution of any system call made by cron as root or by any privileged user.

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

-a always,exit -F arch=b64 -S execve -F subj_type=crond_t -F euid=0 -k cron_exec
-a always,exit -F arch=b32 -S execve -F subj_type=crond_t -F euid=0 -k cron_exec
-a always,exit -F arch=b64 -S execve -F subj_type=crond_t -F auid>=1000 -F auid!=unset -k cron_exec
-a always,exit -F arch=b32 -S execve -F subj_type=crond_t -F auid>=1000 -F auid!=unset -k cron_exec

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

$ sudo augenrules --load

Check Contents

Verify RHEL 9 is configured to audit the execution of any system call made by cron as root or by any privileged user with the following command:

$ sudo auditctl -l | grep crond_t
-a always,exit -F arch=b64 -S execve -F subj_type=crond_t -F euid=0 -k cron_exec
-a always,exit -F arch=b32 -S execve -F subj_type=crond_t -F euid=0 -k cron_exec
-a always,exit -F arch=b64 -S execve -F subj_type=crond_t -F auid>=1000 -F auid!=unset -k cron_exec
-a always,exit -F arch=b32 -S execve -F subj_type=crond_t -F auid>=1000 -F auid!=unset -k cron_exec

If this command does not return the expected output, or the lines are commented out, this is a finding.

Vulnerability Number

V-279936

Documentable

False

Rule Version

RHEL-09-654097

Severity Override Guidance

Check Content Reference

Target Key

5551