Verify Group Who Owns Crontab

Documentos > Datadog Security > OOTB Rules > Verify Group Who Owns Crontab

This page is not yet available in Spanish. We are working on its translation.
If you have any questions or feedback about our current translation project, feel free to reach out to us!

Description

To properly set the group owner of /etc/crontab, run the command:

$ sudo chgrp root /etc/crontab

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 group 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 [ ! -f /.dockerenv ] && [ ! -f /run/.containerenv ]; then

chgrp -L 0 /etc/crontab

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: Test for existence /etc/crontab
  stat:
    path: /etc/crontab
  register: file_exists
  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_groupowner_crontab
  - low_complexity
  - low_disruption
  - medium_severity
  - no_reboot_needed

- name: Ensure group owner 0 on /etc/crontab
  file:
    path: /etc/crontab
    group: '0'
  when:
  - ansible_virtualization_type not in ["docker", "lxc", "openvz", "podman", "container"]
  - file_exists.stat is defined and file_exists.stat.exists
  tags:
  - NIST-800-53-AC-6(1)
  - NIST-800-53-CM-6(a)
  - PCI-DSSv4-2.2.6
  - configure_strategy
  - file_groupowner_crontab
  - low_complexity
  - low_disruption
  - medium_severity
  - no_reboot_needed