The audit system must be configured to audit all attempts to alter system time through /etc/localtime.

Overview

Finding ID	Version	Rule ID	IA Controls	Severity
V-38530	RHEL-06-000173	SV-50331r2_rule		Low

Description
Arbitrary changes to the system time can be used to obfuscate nefarious activities in log files, as well as to confuse network services that are highly dependent upon an accurate system time (such as sshd). All changes to the system time should be audited.

STIG	Date
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 Security Technical Implementation Guide	2016-07-22

Details

Check Text ( None )
None

Fix Text (F-43477r1_fix)
Add the following to "/etc/audit/audit.rules": -w /etc/localtime -p wa -k audit_time_rules The -k option allows for the specification of a key in string form that can be used for better reporting capability through ausearch and aureport and should always be used.