---
title: "HOST-AUD-010 Journal Not Persistent or Not Compressed"
canonical: https://openvapt.com/checks/HOST-AUD-010.html
html: https://openvapt.com/checks/HOST-AUD-010.html
site: OpenVAPT, https://openvapt.com/
license: OpenVAPT Source-Available Licence 1.3, https://openvapt.com/legal/licence-text.html
modified: 2026-10-14
version: 0.1.0-alpha.6
---

# HOST-AUD-010 Journal Not Persistent or Not Compressed

Checks that systemd-journald is configured to keep the journal on disk and to compress it.

- Domain: Server
- Severity: Low
- Control category: Logging and Monitoring
- Fix effort: low
- CVSS v3.1 vector: `CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N`
- CIS Controls v8: 8.3
- NIST CSF 2.0: PR.PS-04
- CWE: CWE-778
- OWASP Top 10 2021: A09:2021
- NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5: AU-4, AU-9, AU-11
- Benchmark topic: journald persistent storage and compression (CIS Controls v8 8.3) (topic only, no benchmark text)

## Why It Matters

Storage=volatile keeps the journal only in memory, so a reboot (or a crash an attacker caused) erases the evidence. Compression keeps a persistent journal small enough to retain for weeks. HOST-LOG-001 looks for the journal directory; this check reads the configuration that decides what happens to it.

## How It Detects

Reads Storage= and Compress= from /etc/systemd/journald.conf and /etc/systemd/journald.conf.d/*.conf. Storage=persistent passes; auto or unset passes only when /var/log/journal exists; volatile or none fails. Compress=no fails. Incomplete when the files exist but cannot be read; skipped when systemd is not present.

## How to Fix

In /etc/systemd/journald.conf set  Storage=persistent  and  Compress=yes , create the directory with  mkdir -p /var/log/journal && systemd-tmpfiles --create --prefix /var/log/journal , then systemctl restart systemd-journald.

## How to Verify

```
journalctl --header | head  and  ls -d /var/log/journal
```

## Learn the Theory

- [P21 Audit Logging and Monitoring Depth](https://openvapt.com/academy/p21.md)

## References

- [journald.conf(5), systemd](https://www.freedesktop.org/software/systemd/man/latest/journald.conf.html)
- [NIST SP 800-92, Guide to Computer Security Log Management](https://csrc.nist.gov/pubs/sp/800/92/final)

## Source Code

https://github.com/OpenVAPT/openvapt/blob/574f7f3333c44b75a3c649e2d93a76d507f75adf/internal/checks/host/audit_journal.go

Run it: `openvapt scan --only HOST-AUD-010`. Read it offline: `openvapt explain HOST-AUD-010`.

---

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