Review the system documentation to determine if MySQL Server is required to generate audit records for all direct access to the database(s). Check if MySQL audit is configured and enabled. The my.cnf file will set the variable audit_file. To further check, execute the following query: SELECT PLUGIN_NAME, PLUGIN_STATUS FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.PLUGINS WHERE PLUGIN_NAME LIKE 'audit%'; The status of the audit_log plugin must be "active". If it is not "active", this is a finding. Review audit filters and associated users by running the following queries: SELECT `audit_log_filter`.`NAME`, `audit_log_filter`.`FILTER` FROM `mysql`.`audit_log_filter`; SELECT `audit_log_user`.`USER`, `audit_log_user`.`HOST`, `audit_log_user`.`FILTERNAME` FROM `mysql`.`audit_log_user`; All currently defined audits for the MySQL server instance will be listed. If no audits are returned, this is a finding. To check if the audit filters in place are generating records to audit all direct access to the database(s): Run any access to the database. Review the audit log by running the Linux command: sudo cat <directory where audit log files are located>/audit.log For example if the values returned by - "select @@datadir, @@audit_log_file; " are /usr/local/mysql/data/, audit.log sudo cat /usr/local/mysql/data/audit.log If the audit events are not present, this is a finding.