Verify Permissions on cron.daily

Classification:

compliance

Framework:

Control:

Description

To properly set the permissions of /etc/cron.daily, run the command:

$ sudo chmod 0700 /etc/cron.daily

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 have the correct access rights to prevent unauthorized changes.

Remediation

Shell script

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

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

find -H /etc/cron.daily/ -maxdepth 1 -perm /u+s,g+xwrs,o+xwrt -type d -exec chmod u-s,g-xwrs,o-xwrt {} \;

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: Set permissions for /etc/cron.daily/
 file:
 path: /etc/cron.daily/
 state: directory
 mode: u-s,g-xwrs,o-xwrt
 when: ansible\_virtualization\_type not in ["docker", "lxc", "openvz", "podman", "container"]
 tags:
 - NIST-800-53-AC-6(1)
 - NIST-800-53-CM-6(a)
 - PCI-DSSv4-2.2.6
 - configure\_strategy
 - file\_permissions\_cron\_daily
 - low\_complexity
 - low\_disruption
 - medium\_severity
 - no\_reboot\_needed