Enable rsyslog Service

Description

The rsyslog service provides syslog-style logging by default on Ubuntu 20.04.

The rsyslog service can be enabled with the following command:

$ sudo systemctl enable rsyslog.service

Rationale

The rsyslog service must be running in order to provide logging services, which are essential to system administration.

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

SYSTEMCTL_EXEC='/usr/bin/systemctl'
"$SYSTEMCTL_EXEC" unmask 'rsyslog.service'
"$SYSTEMCTL_EXEC" start 'rsyslog.service'
"$SYSTEMCTL_EXEC" enable 'rsyslog.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: Enable rsyslog Service - Enable service rsyslog
  block:

  - name: Gather the package facts
    package_facts:
      manager: auto

  - name: Enable rsyslog Service - Enable Service rsyslog
    ansible.builtin.systemd:
      name: rsyslog
      enabled: true
      state: started
      masked: false
    when:
    - '"rsyslog" in ansible_facts.packages'
  when: ansible_virtualization_type not in ["docker", "lxc", "openvz", "podman", "container"]
  tags:
  - DISA-STIG-UBTU-20-010432
  - NIST-800-53-AU-4(1)
  - NIST-800-53-CM-6(a)
  - enable_strategy
  - low_complexity
  - low_disruption
  - medium_severity
  - no_reboot_needed
  - service_rsyslog_enabled