The AIX cron and crontab directories must be group-owned by cron.

Overview

Finding IDVersionRule IDIA ControlsSeverity
V-245569AIX7-00-002150SV-245569r991589_ruleCCI-000366medium
Description
Incorrect group ownership of the cron or crontab directories could permit unauthorized users the ability to alter cron jobs and run automated jobs as privileged users. Failure to give ownership of cron or crontab directories to root or to bin provides the designated owner and unauthorized users with the potential to access sensitive information or change the system configuration which could weaken the system's security posture.
STIGDate
IBM AIX 7.x Security Technical Implementation Guide2024-08-16

Details

Check Text (C-245569r991589_chk)

Check the group owner of the "crontab" directory using command: # ls -ld /var/spool/cron/crontabs drwxrwx--- 2 bin cron 256 Jan 25 12:33 /var/spool/cron/crontabs If the group owner of the "crontab" directory is not "cron", this is a finding.

Fix Text (F-48803r832905_fix)

Change the group owner of the "crontab" directory: # chgrp cron /var/spool/cron/crontabs