Description
The ntp service can be enabled with the following command:
$ sudo systemctl enable ntp.service
Rationale
Enabling the ntp service ensures that the ntp
service will be running and that the system will synchronize its time to
any servers specified. This is important whether the system is configured to be
a client (and synchronize only its own clock) or it is also acting as an NTP
server to other systems. Synchronizing time is essential for authentication
services such as Kerberos, but it is also important for maintaining accurate
logs and auditing possible security breaches.
The NTP daemon offers all of the functionality of ntpdate, which is now
deprecated.
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 ] && { dpkg-query --show --showformat='${db:Status-Status}\n' 'ntp' 2>/dev/null | grep -q installed; }; then
SYSTEMCTL\_EXEC='/usr/bin/systemctl'
"$SYSTEMCTL\_EXEC" unmask 'ntp.service'
"$SYSTEMCTL\_EXEC" start 'ntp.service'
"$SYSTEMCTL\_EXEC" enable 'ntp.service'
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-AU-8(1)(a)
- NIST-800-53-CM-6(a)
- PCI-DSS-Req-10.4
- PCI-DSSv4-10.6.1
- enable\_strategy
- high\_severity
- low\_complexity
- low\_disruption
- no\_reboot\_needed
- service\_ntp\_enabled
- name: Enable service ntp
block:
- name: Gather the package facts
package\_facts:
manager: auto
- name: Enable service ntp
systemd:
name: ntp
enabled: 'yes'
state: started
masked: 'no'
when:
- '"ntp" in ansible\_facts.packages'
when:
- ansible\_virtualization\_type not in ["docker", "lxc", "openvz", "podman", "container"]
- '"ntp" in ansible\_facts.packages'
tags:
- NIST-800-53-AU-8(1)(a)
- NIST-800-53-CM-6(a)
- PCI-DSS-Req-10.4
- PCI-DSSv4-10.6.1
- enable\_strategy
- high\_severity
- low\_complexity
- low\_disruption
- no\_reboot\_needed
- service\_ntp\_enabled
