Profile Applicability:
 • Level 1

Description:
 The cron daemon (crond) is responsible for executing scheduled tasks on the system. Ensuring that the cron daemon is enabled and actively running guarantees that scheduled jobs execute as expected, supporting system maintenance and automation.

Rationale:
 Enabling and running the cron daemon ensures critical scheduled tasks run on time, aiding system stability, security updates, and administrative automation.

Impact:
 Pros:

  • Supports automation of maintenance and security tasks.

  • Ensures timely execution of scheduled jobs.

Cons:

  • Misconfiguration of cron jobs may cause unintended system behavior.

Default Value:
 The cron daemon is typically enabled and running by default on most Linux systems.

Pre-requisites:

  • Root or sudo privileges to manage system services.

Remediation:

Test Plan:

Using Linux command line:

1. Check if cron daemon is enabled:

systemctl is-enabled crond

2. Check if cron daemon is active:

systemctl is-active crond

Implementation Plan:

Using Linux command line:

1. Enable the cron daemon service:

systemctl enable crond

2. Start the cron daemon service:

systemctl start crond

3. Verify the service status:

systemctl is-enabled crond  
systemctl is-active crond

Backout Plan:

Using Linux command line:

1. Disable the cron daemon if necessary:

systemctl disable crond

2. Stop the cron daemon service:

systemctl stop crond

3. Verify service status.

References:

  • CIS Amazon Linux 2 Benchmark v3.0.0

  • Cron Daemon Documentation

  • Systemd Service Management