Ensure System Log Files Have Correct Permissions

Docs > Datadog Security > OOTB Rules > Ensure System Log Files Have Correct Permissions

Description

The file permissions for all log files written by rsyslog should be set to 640, or more restrictive. These log files are determined by the second part of each Rule line in /etc/rsyslog.conf and typically all appear in /var/log. For each log file LOGFILE referenced in /etc/rsyslog.conf, run the following command to inspect the file’s permissions:

$ ls -l LOGFILE

If the permissions are not 640 or more restrictive, run the following command to correct this:

$ sudo chmod 640 LOGFILE

Rationale

Log files can contain valuable information regarding system configuration. If the system log files are not protected unauthorized users could change the logged data, eliminating their forensic value.

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

# List of log file paths to be inspected for correct permissions
# * Primarily inspect log file paths listed in /etc/rsyslog.conf
RSYSLOG_ETC_CONFIG="/etc/rsyslog.conf"
# * And also the log file paths listed after rsyslog's $IncludeConfig directive
#   (store the result into array for the case there's shell glob used as value of IncludeConfig)
readarray -t OLD_INC < <(grep -e "\$IncludeConfig[[:space:]]\+[^[:space:];]\+" /etc/rsyslog.conf | cut -d ' ' -f 2)
readarray -t RSYSLOG_INCLUDE_CONFIG < <(for INCPATH in "${OLD_INC[@]}"; do eval printf '%s\\n' "${INCPATH}"; done)
readarray -t NEW_INC < <(sed -n '/^\s*include(/,/)/Ip' /etc/rsyslog.conf | sed -n 's@.*file\s*=\s*"\([/[:alnum:][:punct:]]*\)".*@\1@Ip')
readarray -t RSYSLOG_INCLUDE < <(for INCPATH in "${NEW_INC[@]}"; do eval printf '%s\\n' "${INCPATH}"; done)

# Declare an array to hold the final list of different log file paths
declare -a LOG_FILE_PATHS

# Array to hold all rsyslog config entries
RSYSLOG_CONFIGS=()
RSYSLOG_CONFIGS=("${RSYSLOG_ETC_CONFIG}" "${RSYSLOG_INCLUDE_CONFIG[@]}" "${RSYSLOG_INCLUDE[@]}")

# Get full list of files to be checked
# RSYSLOG_CONFIGS may contain globs such as
# /etc/rsyslog.d/*.conf /etc/rsyslog.d/*.frule
# So, loop over the entries in RSYSLOG_CONFIGS and use find to get the list of included files.
RSYSLOG_CONFIG_FILES=()
for ENTRY in "${RSYSLOG_CONFIGS[@]}"
do
	# If directory, rsyslog will search for config files in recursively.
	# However, files in hidden sub-directories or hidden files will be ignored.
	if [ -d "${ENTRY}" ]
	then
		readarray -t FINDOUT < <(find "${ENTRY}" -not -path '*/.*' -type f)
		RSYSLOG_CONFIG_FILES+=("${FINDOUT[@]}")
	elif [ -f "${ENTRY}" ]
	then
		RSYSLOG_CONFIG_FILES+=("${ENTRY}")
	else
		echo "Invalid include object: ${ENTRY}"
	fi
done

# Browse each file selected above as containing paths of log files
# ('/etc/rsyslog.conf' and '/etc/rsyslog.d/*.conf' in the default configuration)
for LOG_FILE in "${RSYSLOG_CONFIG_FILES[@]}"
do
	# From each of these files extract just particular log file path(s), thus:
	# * Ignore lines starting with space (' '), comment ('#"), or variable syntax ('$') characters,
	# * Ignore empty lines,
	# * Strip quotes and closing brackets from paths.
	# * Ignore paths that match /dev|/etc.*\.conf, as those are paths, but likely not log files
	# * From the remaining valid rows select only fields constituting a log file path
	# Text file column is understood to represent a log file path if and only if all of the
	# following are met:
	# * it contains at least one slash '/' character,
	# * it is preceded by space
	# * it doesn't contain space (' '), colon (':'), and semicolon (';') characters
	# Search log file for path(s) only in case it exists!
	if [[ -f "${LOG_FILE}" ]]
	then
		NORMALIZED_CONFIG_FILE_LINES=$(sed -e "/^[#|$]/d" "${LOG_FILE}")
		LINES_WITH_PATHS=$(grep '[^/]*\s\+\S*/\S\+$' <<< "${NORMALIZED_CONFIG_FILE_LINES}")
		FILTERED_PATHS=$(awk '{if(NF>=2&&($NF~/^\//||$NF~/^-\//)){sub(/^-\//,"/",$NF);print $NF}}' <<< "${LINES_WITH_PATHS}")
		CLEANED_PATHS=$(sed -e "s/[\"')]//g; /\\/etc.*\.conf/d; /\\/dev\\//d" <<< "${FILTERED_PATHS}")
		MATCHED_ITEMS=$(sed -e "/^$/d" <<< "${CLEANED_PATHS}")
		# Since above sed command might return more than one item (delimited by newline), split
		# the particular matches entries into new array specific for this log file
		readarray -t ARRAY_FOR_LOG_FILE <<< "$MATCHED_ITEMS"
		# Concatenate the two arrays - previous content of $LOG_FILE_PATHS array with
		# items from newly created array for this log file
		LOG_FILE_PATHS+=("${ARRAY_FOR_LOG_FILE[@]}")
		# Delete the temporary array
		unset ARRAY_FOR_LOG_FILE
	fi
done

# Check for RainerScript action log format which might be also multiline so grep regex is a bit
# curly:
# extract possibly multiline action omfile expressions
# extract File="logfile" expression
# match only "logfile" expression
for LOG_FILE in "${RSYSLOG_CONFIG_FILES[@]}"
do
	ACTION_OMFILE_LINES=$(grep -iozP "action\s*\(\s*type\s*=\s*\"omfile\"[^\)]*\)" "${LOG_FILE}")
	OMFILE_LINES=$(echo "${ACTION_OMFILE_LINES}"| grep -iaoP "\bFile\s*=\s*\"([/[:alnum:][:punct:]]*)\"\s*\)")
	LOG_FILE_PATHS+=("$(echo "${OMFILE_LINES}"| grep -oE "\"([/[:alnum:][:punct:]]*)\""|tr -d "\"")")
done

# Ensure the correct attribute if file exists
FILE_CMD="chmod"
for LOG_FILE_PATH in "${LOG_FILE_PATHS[@]}"
do
	# Sanity check - if particular $LOG_FILE_PATH is empty string, skip it from further processing
	if [ -z "$LOG_FILE_PATH" ]
	then
		continue
	fi
	$FILE_CMD "0640" "$LOG_FILE_PATH"
done

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 System Log Files Have Correct Permissions - Set rsyslog logfile configuration
    facts
  ansible.builtin.set_fact:
    rsyslog_etc_config: /etc/rsyslog.conf
  when: ansible_virtualization_type not in ["docker", "lxc", "openvz", "podman", "container"]
  tags:
  - CCE-80191-0
  - NIST-800-53-AC-6(1)
  - NIST-800-53-CM-6(a)
  - PCI-DSS-Req-10.5.1
  - PCI-DSS-Req-10.5.2
  - PCI-DSSv4-10.3.1
  - configure_strategy
  - low_complexity
  - medium_disruption
  - medium_severity
  - no_reboot_needed
  - rsyslog_files_permissions

- name: Ensure System Log Files Have Correct Permissions - Get IncludeConfig directive
  ansible.builtin.shell: |
    set -o pipefail
    grep -e '$IncludeConfig' {{ rsyslog_etc_config }} | cut -d ' ' -f 2 || true
  register: rsyslog_old_inc
  changed_when: false
  when: ansible_virtualization_type not in ["docker", "lxc", "openvz", "podman", "container"]
  tags:
  - CCE-80191-0
  - NIST-800-53-AC-6(1)
  - NIST-800-53-CM-6(a)
  - PCI-DSS-Req-10.5.1
  - PCI-DSS-Req-10.5.2
  - PCI-DSSv4-10.3.1
  - configure_strategy
  - low_complexity
  - medium_disruption
  - medium_severity
  - no_reboot_needed
  - rsyslog_files_permissions

- name: Ensure System Log Files Have Correct Permissions - Get include files directives
  ansible.builtin.shell: |
    set -o pipefail
    awk '/)/{f=0} /include\(/{f=1} f{ nf=gensub("^(include\\(|\\s*)file=\"(\\S+)\".*","\\2",1); if($0!=nf){ print nf }}' {{ rsyslog_etc_config }} || true
  register: rsyslog_new_inc
  changed_when: false
  when: ansible_virtualization_type not in ["docker", "lxc", "openvz", "podman", "container"]
  tags:
  - CCE-80191-0
  - NIST-800-53-AC-6(1)
  - NIST-800-53-CM-6(a)
  - PCI-DSS-Req-10.5.1
  - PCI-DSS-Req-10.5.2
  - PCI-DSSv4-10.3.1
  - configure_strategy
  - low_complexity
  - medium_disruption
  - medium_severity
  - no_reboot_needed
  - rsyslog_files_permissions

- name: Ensure System Log Files Have Correct Permissions - Aggregate rsyslog includes
  ansible.builtin.set_fact:
    include_config_output: '{{ rsyslog_old_inc.stdout_lines + rsyslog_new_inc.stdout_lines
      }}'
  when:
  - ansible_virtualization_type not in ["docker", "lxc", "openvz", "podman", "container"]
  - rsyslog_old_inc is not skipped and rsyslog_new_inc is not skipped
  tags:
  - CCE-80191-0
  - NIST-800-53-AC-6(1)
  - NIST-800-53-CM-6(a)
  - PCI-DSS-Req-10.5.1
  - PCI-DSS-Req-10.5.2
  - PCI-DSSv4-10.3.1
  - configure_strategy
  - low_complexity
  - medium_disruption
  - medium_severity
  - no_reboot_needed
  - rsyslog_files_permissions

- name: Ensure System Log Files Have Correct Permissions - List all config files
  ansible.builtin.find:
    paths: '{{ item | dirname }}'
    patterns: '{{ item | basename }}'
    hidden: false
    follow: true
  loop: '{{ include_config_output | list + [rsyslog_etc_config] }}'
  when:
  - ansible_virtualization_type not in ["docker", "lxc", "openvz", "podman", "container"]
  - include_config_output is defined
  register: rsyslog_config_files
  failed_when: false
  changed_when: false
  tags:
  - CCE-80191-0
  - NIST-800-53-AC-6(1)
  - NIST-800-53-CM-6(a)
  - PCI-DSS-Req-10.5.1
  - PCI-DSS-Req-10.5.2
  - PCI-DSSv4-10.3.1
  - configure_strategy
  - low_complexity
  - medium_disruption
  - medium_severity
  - no_reboot_needed
  - rsyslog_files_permissions

- name: Ensure System Log Files Have Correct Permissions - Extract log files old format
  ansible.builtin.shell: |
    set -o pipefail
    grep -oP '^[^(\s|#|\$)]+[\s]+.*[\s]+-?(/+[^:;\s]+);*\.*$' {{ item.1.path }} | \
    awk '{print $NF}' | \
    sed -e 's/^-//' || true
  loop: '{{ rsyslog_config_files.results | default([]) | subelements(''files'') }}'
  register: log_files_old
  changed_when: false
  when:
  - ansible_virtualization_type not in ["docker", "lxc", "openvz", "podman", "container"]
  - rsyslog_config_files is not skipped
  tags:
  - CCE-80191-0
  - NIST-800-53-AC-6(1)
  - NIST-800-53-CM-6(a)
  - PCI-DSS-Req-10.5.1
  - PCI-DSS-Req-10.5.2
  - PCI-DSSv4-10.3.1
  - configure_strategy
  - low_complexity
  - medium_disruption
  - medium_severity
  - no_reboot_needed
  - rsyslog_files_permissions

- name: Ensure System Log Files Have Correct Permissions - Extract log files new format
  ansible.builtin.shell: |
    set -o pipefail
    grep -ozP "action\s*\(\s*type\s*=\s*\"omfile\"[^\)]*\)" {{ item.1.path }} | \
    grep -aoP "\bFile\s*=\s*\"([/[:alnum:][:punct:]]*)\"\s*\)" | \
    grep -oE "\"([/[:alnum:][:punct:]]*)\"" | \
    tr -d "\""|| true
  loop: '{{ rsyslog_config_files.results | default([]) | subelements(''files'') }}'
  register: log_files_new
  changed_when: false
  when:
  - ansible_virtualization_type not in ["docker", "lxc", "openvz", "podman", "container"]
  - rsyslog_config_files is not skipped
  tags:
  - CCE-80191-0
  - NIST-800-53-AC-6(1)
  - NIST-800-53-CM-6(a)
  - PCI-DSS-Req-10.5.1
  - PCI-DSS-Req-10.5.2
  - PCI-DSSv4-10.3.1
  - configure_strategy
  - low_complexity
  - medium_disruption
  - medium_severity
  - no_reboot_needed
  - rsyslog_files_permissions

- name: Ensure System Log Files Have Correct Permissions - Sum all log files found
  ansible.builtin.set_fact:
    log_files: '{{ log_files_new.results | map(attribute=''stdout_lines'') | list
      | flatten | unique + log_files_old.results | map(attribute=''stdout_lines'')
      | list | flatten | unique }}'
  when: ansible_virtualization_type not in ["docker", "lxc", "openvz", "podman", "container"]
  tags:
  - CCE-80191-0
  - NIST-800-53-AC-6(1)
  - NIST-800-53-CM-6(a)
  - PCI-DSS-Req-10.5.1
  - PCI-DSS-Req-10.5.2
  - PCI-DSSv4-10.3.1
  - configure_strategy
  - low_complexity
  - medium_disruption
  - medium_severity
  - no_reboot_needed
  - rsyslog_files_permissions

- name: Ensure System Log Files Have Correct Permissions -Setup log files attribute
  ansible.builtin.file:
    path: '{{ item }}'
    mode: '0640'
    state: file
  loop: '{{ log_files | list | flatten | unique }}'
  failed_when: false
  when: ansible_virtualization_type not in ["docker", "lxc", "openvz", "podman", "container"]
  tags:
  - CCE-80191-0
  - NIST-800-53-AC-6(1)
  - NIST-800-53-CM-6(a)
  - PCI-DSS-Req-10.5.1
  - PCI-DSS-Req-10.5.2
  - PCI-DSSv4-10.3.1
  - configure_strategy
  - low_complexity
  - medium_disruption
  - medium_severity
  - no_reboot_needed
  - rsyslog_files_permissions