When building a new RHEL v7.8 VM manually, I set up the rules desired in /etc/audit/rulesd/audit.rules, no other changes (because I've wanted to narrow down the issue). After subsequent reboots, with no further changes to any audit rules either; I monitor /var/log/messages and I see occurrences like this:
Sep 22 09:04:24 hostxyz augenrules: /sbin/augenrules: No change
Sep 22 09:04:24 hostxyz augenrules: No rulesSep 22 09:04:24 hostxyz augenrules: enabled 1Sep 22 09:04:24 hostxyz augenrules: failure 1Sep 22 09:04:24 hostxyz augenrules: pid 1242Sep 22 09:04:24 hostxyz augenrules: rate_limit 0Sep 22 09:04:24 hostxyz augenrules: backlog_limit 16384Sep 22 09:04:24 hostxyz augenrules: lost 56Sep 22 09:04:24 hostxyz augenrules: backlog 1Sep 22 09:04:24 hostxyz augenrules: enabled 1Sep 22 09:04:24 hostxyz augenrules: failure 2Sep 22 09:04:24 hostxyz augenrules: pid 1242Sep 22 09:04:24 hostxyz augenrules: rate_limit 0Sep 22 09:04:24 hostxyz augenrules: backlog_limit 16384Sep 22 09:04:24 hostxyz augenrules: lost 56Sep 22 09:04:24 hostxyz augenrules: backlog 0Sep 22 09:04:24 hostxyz augenrules: usage: auditctl [options]Sep 22 09:04:24 hostxyz augenrules: -a <l,a>            Append rule to end of <l>ist with <a>ctionSep 22 09:04:24 hostxyz augenrules: -A <l,a>            Add rule at beginning of <l>ist with <a>ctionSep 22 09:04:24 hostxyz augenrules: -b <backlog>        Set max number of outstanding audit buffersSep 22 09:04:24 hostxyz augenrules: allowed Default=64Sep 22 09:04:24 hostxyz augenrules: -c                  Continue through errors in rulesSep 22 09:04:24 hostxyz augenrules: -C f=f              Compare collected fields if available:Sep 22 09:04:24 hostxyz augenrules: Field name, operator(=,!=), field nameSep 22 09:04:24 hostxyz augenrules: -d <l,a>            Delete rule from <l>ist with <a>ctionSep 22 09:04:24 hostxyz augenrules: l=task,exit,user,excludeSep 22 09:04:24 hostxyz augenrules: a=never,alwaysSep 22 09:04:24 hostxyz augenrules: -D                  Delete all rules and watchesSep 22 09:04:24 hostxyz augenrules: -e [0..2]           Set enabled flagSep 22 09:04:24 hostxyz augenrules: -f [0..2]           Set failure flagSep 22 09:04:24 hostxyz augenrules: 0=silent 1=printk 2=panicSep 22 09:04:24 hostxyz augenrules: -F f=v              Build rule: field name, operator(=,!=,<,>,<=,Sep 22 09:04:24 hostxyz augenrules: >=,&,&=) valueSep 22 09:04:24 hostxyz augenrules: -h                  HelpSep 22 09:04:24 hostxyz augenrules: -i                  Ignore errors when reading rules from fileSep 22 09:04:24 hostxyz augenrules: -k <key>            Set filter key on audit ruleSep 22 09:04:24 hostxyz augenrules: -l                  List rulesSep 22 09:04:24 hostxyz augenrules: -m text             Send a user-space messageSep 22 09:04:24 hostxyz augenrules: -p [r|w|x|a]        Set permissions filter on watchSep 22 09:04:24 hostxyz augenrules: r=read, w=write, x=execute, a=attributeSep 22 09:04:24 hostxyz augenrules: -q <mount,subtree>  make subtree part of mount point's dir watchesSep 22 09:04:24 hostxyz augenrules: -r <rate>           Set limit in messages/sec (0=none)Sep 22 09:04:24 hostxyz augenrules: -R <file>           read rules from fileSep 22 09:04:24 hostxyz augenrules: -s                  Report statusSep 22 09:04:24 hostxyz augenrules: -S syscall          Build rule: syscall name or numberSep 22 09:04:24 hostxyz augenrules: -t                  Trim directory watchesSep 22 09:04:24 hostxyz augenrules: -v                  VersionSep 22 09:04:24 hostxyz augenrules: -w <path>           Insert watch at <path>Sep 22 09:04:24 hostxyz augenrules: -W <path>           Remove watch at <path>Sep 22 09:04:24 hostxyz augenrules: --loginuid-immutable  Make loginuids unchangeable once setSep 22 09:04:24 hostxyz augenrules: --reset-lost         Reset the lost record counterSep 22 09:04:24 hostxyz systemd: Started Security Auditing Service.
The 'usage' of auditctl is invoked the one time in the 'try_load' function of augenrules.  Manual executions of "/sbin/auditctl -R /etc/audit/audit.rules', results in essentially the same behavior on the terminal as found in /var/log/messages.
Should execution of augenrules seemingly error-out on invocation of auditctl like this?
Thank you.
R,-Joe Wulf