This is an original planning guide. It is not a vendor manual, an official standard, or legal advice. Example addresses use documentation ranges. Review every command before you paste it.
What this hour is for
The auditor counts lines that say warning and lines that say suggestion, and it lists up to five warning lines. It does not run Lynis and it does not change the host. A count is not a certification.
One paste from a host you administer. Do not disable a control to make a warning disappear. Do not treat the count as an audit you can hand to someone else as finished.
192.0.2.10/24 and example.com are documentation. They stay in the note.
The change you can finish
Apply nothing while you are writing the note. When the lab window opens, it is one change on the host named in the ticket. Read the draft, then the host, then decide.
Rollback is the file, the package version, or the snapshot you saved first. You do not invent a rollback after the only copy is gone.
- Paste a report you hold.
- Write the two counts.
- Pick one warning for a later ticket.
- Do not change the host.
- Stop.
Mistakes that outlive the command
Lynis Report Audit Checklist goes wrong in a small set of ways. The list is here so the ticket can forbid them before the window.
- The count called a certification.
- A control disabled to clear a warning.
- Lynis run against a host you do not administer.
- The page treated as if it ran Lynis.
Decisions to write down
One decision for Lynis Report Audit Checklist: The counts are written. Nothing was changed. This is not a certification. And the host is yours.
Checks before you call it done
Confirm this before you call the change done: The paste is identified. Warnings are counted. Suggestions are counted. Nothing was changed. And the host is yours. If one of those fails, stop.
# Count warning and suggestion lines.
# This page does not run Lynis.
# A count is not a certification.Before you leave the host
Lynis Report Audit Checklist ends when the hostname in the prompt matches the hostname in the ticket. If it does not, you are on the wrong host. Stop. A command that succeeded on the wrong host is not progress.
The draft stays a draft until a person has read the names in it. A generator does not log into the host and does not know which disk is empty. You delete a line that names a host, a path, or an account you did not write down.
192.0.2.10/24, gateway 192.0.2.1, 198.51.100.0/24, 203.0.113.0/24, and 2001:db8::/32 are documentation. example.com is a documentation name. They belong in the note. They are not values you leave on a host because a draft included them.
prompt-for-this is a reminder that a secret is missing. It is not a password, a key, or a token you save in the ticket or in git. The real secret stays in the password store.
One change is the window. If two things move and the result is wrong, you will not know which one did it. The next change waits for its own page.
If the same step fails twice, stop for the day. The failure is the result. Adding a forum command beside a half-applied change produces a host nobody can rebuild. Restore the copy you took first.
A second person reads the hostname and the change aloud. If they cannot find them in the ticket, the note is not done. Silence is not agreement. Then leave the host alone.
This page is a planning guide. It is not a vendor manual, not an official standard, and not permission to touch a host you do not administer. You do not disable a firewall, AppArmor, or SELinux to make a check pass.
Tools for this guide
These tools run in the browser on this site. They do not log into your machines.
Related pillar guides
More in this cluster
The pillar for this page, and the next published pages filed with it.
- Pillar: Server Hardening & Audit Guide
- Checklist: GPO Security Audit Checklist
- Checklist: AD Password Policy Audit Checklist
- Checklist: PowerShell Script Security Audit Checklist
Companion: Security: Server Hardening Guide.