6.1.1 Enable anacron Daemon

Information

The anacron daemon is used on systems that are not up 24x7. The anacron daemon will execute jobs that would have normally been run had the system not been down

Rationale:

Cron jobs may include critical security or administrative functions that need to run on a regular basis. Use this daemon on machines that are not up 24x7, or if there are jobs that need to be executed after the system has been brought back up after a maintenance window.

Solution

Run the following command:

# chkconfig anacron on

Note: NSA Guidance recommends disabling anacron for systems that are intended to be up 24X7, with the rationale that unnecessary software should be disabled to reduce risk. However, even systems that are designed to be up at all times can experience downtime that could prevent important system maintenance jobs from running. Review the requirements for your site to determine your appropriate risk level.

Default Value:

OS Default: Enabled

See Also

https://workbench.cisecurity.org/files/3096

Item Details

Category: CONFIGURATION MANAGEMENT

References: 800-53|CM-6, CSCv6|3.1, CSCv7|5.1

Plugin: Unix

Control ID: fa666d84f926de8454942ebb4a80e592d8bc8bef437ecf16dcb4375b9e4f6765