documentation_complete: true


title: 'Ensure real-time clock is set to UTC'

description: 'Ensure that the system real-time clock (RTC) is set to Coordinated Universal Time (UTC).'

rationale: |-
    If time stamps are not consistently applied and there is no common
    time reference, it is difficult to perform forensic analysis.

    Time stamps generated by the operating system include date and time.
    Time is commonly expressed in UTC, a modern continuation of GMT, or
    local time with an offset from UTC.

severity: high

identifiers:
    cce@sle12: CCE-83197-4
    cce@sle15: CCE-85724-3

references:
    nist@sle12: AU-8(b)
    nist@sle15: AU-8(b)
    srg: SRG-OS-000359-GPOS-00146
    stigid@sle12: SLES-12-030310
    stigid@sle15: SLES-15-010410

ocil_clause: 'the system real-time clock is not configured to use UTC as its time base'

ocil: |-
    To verify that the system real-time clock is set to UTC or GMT, run the following command:
    {{% if product in ['sle12','sle15'] or 'ubuntu' in product %}}
    <pre># timedatectl status | grep -i "time zone"</pre>
    <pre># Time zone: UTC (UTC, +0000)</pre>
    {{% else %}}
    <pre># timedatectl status | grep -i timezone</pre>
    <pre>Timezone: UTC (UTC, +0000)</pre>
    {{% endif %}}
    If "Timezone" is not set to UTC, this is a finding.
    Fix Text: Configure the SUSE operating system is configured to use UTC.
    To configure the system time zone to use UTC or GMT, run the following command, replacing [ZONE] with "UTC" or "GMT".
    <pre># sudo timedatectl set-timezone [ZONE]</pre>
