macOS 26 - Tahoe
The macOS system must configure audit log files to mode 440 or less permissive
Description
The audit service must be configured to create log files that are readable only by the root user and group wheel. To achieve this, audit log files must be configured to mode 440 or less permissive to prevent normal users from reading, modifying, or deleting audit logs.
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 set to mode 440 or less with the following command:
/bin/ls -l $(/usr/bin/grep '^dir' /etc/security/audit_control | /usr/bin/awk -F: '{print $2}') | /usr/bin/awk '!/-r--r-----|current|total/{print $1}' | /usr/bin/wc -l | /usr/bin/tr -d ' '
If the result is not "0", this is a finding.
Fix
Configure the macOS system with audit log files set to mode 440 with the following command:
/bin/chmod 440 /var/audit/*