Verify Owner on cron.hourly

Description

To properly set the owner of /etc/cron.hourly, run the command:

$ sudo chown root /etc/cron.hourly

Rationale

Service configuration files enable or disable features of their respective services that if configured incorrectly can lead to insecure and vulnerable configurations. Therefore, service configuration files should be owned by the correct user to prevent unauthorized changes.

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 dpkg-query --show --showformat='${db:Status-Status}' 'linux-base' 2>/dev/null | grep -q '^installed$'; then

if id "0" >/dev/null 2>&1; then
  newown="0"
fi
if [[ -z ${newown} ]]; then
  echo "0 is not a defined user on the system"
  exit 1
fi
find -H /etc/cron.hourly/ -maxdepth 1 -type d  ! -user 0 -exec chown -L $newown {} \;

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: Gather the package facts
  package_facts:
    manager: auto
  tags:
  - NIST-800-53-AC-6(1)
  - NIST-800-53-CM-6(a)
  - PCI-DSSv4-2.2
  - PCI-DSSv4-2.2.6
  - configure_strategy
  - file_owner_cron_hourly
  - low_complexity
  - low_disruption
  - medium_severity
  - no_reboot_needed

- name: Set the file_owner_cron_hourly_newown variable if represented by uid
  set_fact:
    file_owner_cron_hourly_newown: '0'
  when: '"linux-base" in ansible_facts.packages'
  tags:
  - NIST-800-53-AC-6(1)
  - NIST-800-53-CM-6(a)
  - PCI-DSSv4-2.2
  - PCI-DSSv4-2.2.6
  - configure_strategy
  - file_owner_cron_hourly
  - low_complexity
  - low_disruption
  - medium_severity
  - no_reboot_needed

- name: Ensure owner on directory /etc/cron.hourly/
  file:
    path: /etc/cron.hourly/
    state: directory
    owner: '{{ file_owner_cron_hourly_newown }}'
  when: '"linux-base" in ansible_facts.packages'
  tags:
  - NIST-800-53-AC-6(1)
  - NIST-800-53-CM-6(a)
  - PCI-DSSv4-2.2
  - PCI-DSSv4-2.2.6
  - configure_strategy
  - file_owner_cron_hourly
  - low_complexity
  - low_disruption
  - medium_severity
  - no_reboot_needed