cis-ubuntu1204-v110-2-8

name	cis-ubuntu1204-v110-2-8
description	Create Separate Partition for /var/log/audit
category	cis-os-hardening
version	1.1.0
author	cyberstrike-official
tags	["cis","ubuntu",12.04,"linux","filesystem","partitioning","var-log-audit","auditing"]
cis_id	2.8
cis_benchmark	CIS Ubuntu 12.04 LTS Server Benchmark v1.1.0
tech_stack	["ubuntu","linux"]
cwe_ids	[]
chains_with	[]
prerequisites	[]
severity_boost	{}

2.8 Create Separate Partition for /var/log/audit (Scored)

Profile Applicability

• Level 1

Description

The auditing daemon, auditd, stores log data in the /var/log/audit directory.

Rationale

There are two important reasons to ensure that data gathered by auditd is stored on a separate partition: protection against resource exhaustion (since the audit.log file can grow quite large) and protection of audit data. The audit daemon calculates how much free space is left and performs actions based on the results. If other processes (such as syslog) consume space in the same partition as auditd, it may not perform as desired.

Audit Procedure

Using Command Line

grep "[[:space:]]/var/log/audit[[:space:]]" /etc/fstab

Expected Result

A partition entry for /var/log/audit should be returned. If the command emits no output then the system is not configured as recommended.

Remediation

Using Command Line

For new installations, during installation create a custom partition setup and specify a separate partition for /var/log/audit.

For systems that were previously installed, use the Logical Volume Manager (LVM) to create partitions.

Default Value

By default, Ubuntu does not create a separate partition for /var/log/audit.

References

• CIS Ubuntu 12.04 LTS Server Benchmark v1.1.0
• AJ Lewis, "LVM HOWTO", http://tldp.org/HOWTO/LVM-HOWTO/

Profile

Level 1 - Scored