Install the systemd_timesyncd Service

This page is not yet available in Spanish. We are working on its translation.
If you have any questions or feedback about our current translation project, feel free to reach out to us!

Description

The systemd_timesyncd service should be installed.

Rationale

Time synchronization (using NTP) is required by almost all network and administrative tasks (syslog, cryptographic based services (authentication, etc.), etc.). systemd_timesyncd is a part of the systemd suite and acts as a NTP client.

Remediation

Shell script

The following script can be run on the host to remediate the issue.

#!/bin/bash

# Remediation is applicable only in certain platforms
if [ ! -f /.dockerenv ] && [ ! -f /run/.containerenv ]; then

DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive apt-get install -y "systemd-timesyncd"

else
    >&2 echo 'Remediation is not applicable, nothing was done'
fi

Ansible playbook

The following playbook can be run with Ansible to remediate the issue.

- name: Ensure systemd-timesyncd is installed
  package:
    name: systemd-timesyncd
    state: present
  when: ansible_virtualization_type not in ["docker", "lxc", "openvz", "podman", "container"]
  tags:
  - NIST-800-53-CM-6(a)
  - PCI-DSS-Req-10.4
  - enable_strategy
  - high_severity
  - low_complexity
  - low_disruption
  - no_reboot_needed
  - package_timesyncd_installed