RHEL-09-252020 - RHEL 9 must securely compare internal information system clocks at least every 24 hours.

Information

Inaccurate time stamps make it more difficult to correlate events and can lead to an inaccurate analysis. Determining the correct time a particular event occurred on a system is critical when conducting forensic analysis and investigating system events. Sources outside the configured acceptable allowance (drift) may be inaccurate.

Synchronizing internal information system clocks provides uniformity of time stamps for information systems with multiple system clocks and systems connected over a network.

Depending on the infrastructure being used the 'pool' directive may not be supported.

Authoritative time sources include the United States Naval Observatory (USNO) time servers, a time server designated for the appropriate DOD network (NIPRNet/SIPRNet), and/or the Global Positioning System (GPS).

Satisfies: SRG-OS-000355-GPOS-00143, SRG-OS-000356-GPOS-00144, SRG-OS-000359-GPOS-00146

Solution

Configure RHEL 9 to securely compare internal information system clocks at least every 24 hours with an NTP server by adding/modifying the following line in the /etc/chrony.conf file.

server [ntp.server.name] iburst maxpoll 16

See Also

https://dl.dod.cyber.mil/wp-content/uploads/stigs/zip/U_RHEL_9_V2R1_STIG.zip

Item Details

Category: AUDIT AND ACCOUNTABILITY

References: 800-53|AU-8b., CAT|II, CCI|CCI-001890, CCI|CCI-004923, CCI|CCI-004926, Rule-ID|SV-257945r997067_rule, STIG-ID|RHEL-09-252020, Vuln-ID|V-257945

Plugin: Unix

Control ID: c1848a25487644a864594eda4ad7cf5062fa015345a247d81fa15fed5af6c19b