macOS 26 - Tahoe
The macOS system must configure the audit log files group to wheel
Description
Audit log files must have the group set to wheel.
The audit service must be configured to create log files with the correct group ownership to prevent normal users from reading audit logs.
Audit logs contain sensitive data about the system and users. If log files are set to be readable and writable only by system administrators, the risk is mitigated.
Satisfies: SRG-OS-000057-GPOS-00027, SRG-OS-000058-GPOS-00028, SRG-OS-000059-GPOS-00029, SRG-OS-000256-GPOS-00097, SRG-OS-000257-GPOS-00098, SRG-OS-000258-GPOS-00099
Check
Verify the macOS system is configured with audit log files group-owned by wheel with the following command:
/bin/ls -n $(/usr/bin/grep '^dir' /etc/security/audit_control | /usr/bin/awk -F: '{print $2}') | /usr/bin/awk '{s+=$4} END {print s}'
If the result is not "0", this is a finding.
Fix
Configure the macOS system with audit log files group-owned by wheel with the following command:
/usr/bin/chgrp -R wheel /var/audit/*