issue(non-blocking): aide_periodic_cron_checking default var not defined

[jacollins121]

Description of problem:

Default value for var in STIG role removed in latest 0.1.79 release.

SCAP Security Guide Version:

V2

Operating System Version:

RHEL 9

Steps to Reproduce:

1. Attempt to execute the role without specifically defining aide_periodic_cron_checking in play vars.

Actual Results:

aide_periodic_cron_checking not defined error when running role.

Expected Results:

aide_periodic_cron_checking: true set in defaults/main.yml

Additional Information/Debugging Steps:

[dav-pascual]

We are also experiencing this:

2026-01-12T09:26:29 TASK [redhatofficial.rhel9_stig : Ensure AIDE is installed] ********************
2026-01-12T09:26:30 fatal: [client1.test]: FAILED! => 
2026-01-12T09:26:30     msg: |-
2026-01-12T09:26:30         The conditional check 'aide_periodic_cron_checking | bool' failed. The error was: error while evaluating conditional (aide_periodic_cron_checking | bool): 'aide_periodic_cron_checking' is undefined. 'aide_periodic_cron_checking' is undefined
2026-01-12T09:26:30 
2026-01-12T09:26:30         The error appears to be in '/home/app/.ansible/roles/redhatofficial.rhel9_stig/tasks/main.yml': line 90, column 3, but may
2026-01-12T09:26:30         be elsewhere in the file depending on the exact syntax problem.
2026-01-12T09:26:30 
2026-01-12T09:26:30         The offending line appears to be:
2026-01-12T09:26:30 
2026-01-12T09:26:30 
2026-01-12T09:26:30         - name: Ensure AIDE is installed
2026-01-12T09:26:30           ^ here
2026-01-12T09:26:30 fatal: [client2.test]: FAILED! => 

[Mab879]

@ggbecker I suspect that something in our role conversion process is going awry. Seems that some, but not all rule enable variables not being defined. Got any ideas?

[Mab879]

It a quick check with latest master (7cff3c8) it seems that the issue is no longer there. I'm not sure what is going.

[ggbecker]

The 0.1.78 release had the rule selected: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/RedHatOfficial/ansible-role-rhel9-stig/bce1b37be635883243f86ce44340a7399cd63c13/tasks/main.yml

The 0.1.79 release does not select this rule anymore apparently: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/RedHatOfficial/ansible-role-rhel9-stig/refs/heads/main/tasks/main.yml

The rule was removed at: #13972

There was a recent update of the roles in the ansible galaxy, if you can please try with the latest version and fresh files, the error should not occur. Feel free to reopen in case you still face the issue.

[Eric-Domeier]

@ggbecker @Mab879

I am experiencing this issue with 0.1.79.

==> partitioned-ami.amazon-ebs.partitioned: Starting galaxy role install process
==> partitioned-ami.amazon-ebs.partitioned: - downloading role 'rhel9_stig', owned by RedHatOfficial
==> partitioned-ami.amazon-ebs.partitioned: - downloading role from https://github.com/RedHatOfficial/ansible-role-rhel9-stig/archive/0.1.79.tar.gz
==> partitioned-ami.amazon-ebs.partitioned: - extracting RedHatOfficial.rhel9_stig to /root/.ansible/roles/RedHatOfficial.rhel9_stig
==> partitioned-ami.amazon-ebs.partitioned: - RedHatOfficial.rhel9_stig (0.1.79) was installed successfully
==> partitioned-ami.amazon-ebs.partitioned: [INFO] 2026-02-09 21:41:29 - Installing community.general collection...
==> partitioned-ami.amazon-ebs.partitioned: [INFO] 2026-02-09 21:41:29 - Running: ansible-galaxy collection install community.general
==> partitioned-ami.amazon-ebs.partitioned: Starting galaxy collection install process
==> partitioned-ami.amazon-ebs.partitioned: Process install dependency map
==> partitioned-ami.amazon-ebs.partitioned: Starting collection install process
==> partitioned-ami.amazon-ebs.partitioned: Downloading https://galaxy.ansible.com/api/v3/plugin/ansible/content/published/collections/artifacts/community-general-12.3.0.tar.gz to /root/.ansible/tmp/ansible-local-17008rh3kr66t/tmp1_mnr9ta/community-general-12.3.0-aajwie_4
==> partitioned-ami.amazon-ebs.partitioned: Installing 'community.general:12.3.0' to '/root/.ansible/collections/ansible_collections/community/general'
==> partitioned-ami.amazon-ebs.partitioned: community.general:12.3.0 was installed successfully
==> partitioned-ami.amazon-ebs.partitioned: [INFO] 2026-02-09 21:41:37 - Installing ansible.posix collection...
==> partitioned-ami.amazon-ebs.partitioned: [INFO] 2026-02-09 21:41:37 - Running: ansible-galaxy collection install ansible.posix
==> partitioned-ami.amazon-ebs.partitioned: Starting galaxy collection install process
==> partitioned-ami.amazon-ebs.partitioned: Process install dependency map
==> partitioned-ami.amazon-ebs.partitioned: Starting collection install process
==> partitioned-ami.amazon-ebs.partitioned: Downloading https://galaxy.ansible.com/api/v3/plugin/ansible/content/published/collections/artifacts/ansible-posix-2.1.0.tar.gz to /root/.ansible/tmp/ansible-local-170127ya4794r/tmpe5k48p3c/ansible-posix-2.1.0-38t38yd4
==> partitioned-ami.amazon-ebs.partitioned: Installing 'ansible.posix:2.1.0' to '/root/.ansible/collections/ansible_collections/ansible/posix'
==> partitioned-ami.amazon-ebs.partitioned: ansible.posix:2.1.0 was installed successfully
==> partitioned-ami.amazon-ebs.partitioned: [INFO] 2026-02-09 21:41:41 - All tasks completed successfully.
==> partitioned-ami.amazon-ebs.partitioned: [INFO] 2026-02-09 21:41:41 - Creating playbook file: playbook.yml
==> partitioned-ami.amazon-ebs.partitioned: [INFO] 2026-02-09 21:41:41 - Running Ansible playbook...
==> partitioned-ami.amazon-ebs.partitioned: [INFO] 2026-02-09 21:41:41 - Running: sudo ansible-playbook -i 'localhost,' -c local playbook.yml -e no_empty_passwords=false -e sudo_remove_nopasswd=false -e ansible_dnf_use_system_config=true
==> partitioned-ami.amazon-ebs.partitioned: [WARNING]: Collection community.general does not support Ansible version
==> partitioned-ami.amazon-ebs.partitioned: 2.14.18
==> partitioned-ami.amazon-ebs.partitioned: [WARNING]: Collection ansible.posix does not support Ansible version 2.14.18
==> partitioned-ami.amazon-ebs.partitioned:
==> partitioned-ami.amazon-ebs.partitioned: PLAY [all] *********************************************************************
==> partitioned-ami.amazon-ebs.partitioned:
==> partitioned-ami.amazon-ebs.partitioned: TASK [Gathering Facts] *********************************************************
==> partitioned-ami.amazon-ebs.partitioned: ok: [localhost]
==> partitioned-ami.amazon-ebs.partitioned:
==> partitioned-ami.amazon-ebs.partitioned: TASK [RedHatOfficial.rhel9_stig : Gather the package facts] ********************
==> partitioned-ami.amazon-ebs.partitioned: ok: [localhost]
==> partitioned-ami.amazon-ebs.partitioned:
==> partitioned-ami.amazon-ebs.partitioned: TASK [RedHatOfficial.rhel9_stig : Ensure aide is installed] ********************
==> partitioned-ami.amazon-ebs.partitioned: changed: [localhost]
==> partitioned-ami.amazon-ebs.partitioned:
==> partitioned-ami.amazon-ebs.partitioned: TASK [RedHatOfficial.rhel9_stig : Build and Test AIDE Database - Ensure AIDE Is Installed] ***
==> partitioned-ami.amazon-ebs.partitioned: ok: [localhost] => (item=aide)
==> partitioned-ami.amazon-ebs.partitioned:
==> partitioned-ami.amazon-ebs.partitioned: TASK [RedHatOfficial.rhel9_stig : Ensure aide is installed] ********************
==> partitioned-ami.amazon-ebs.partitioned: ok: [localhost] => (item=aide)
==> partitioned-ami.amazon-ebs.partitioned:
==> partitioned-ami.amazon-ebs.partitioned: TASK [RedHatOfficial.rhel9_stig : Ensure AIDE is installed] ********************
==> partitioned-ami.amazon-ebs.partitioned: fatal: [localhost]: FAILED! => {"msg": "The conditional check 'aide_periodic_cron_checking | bool' failed. The error was: error while evaluating conditional (aide_periodic_cron_checking | bool): 'aide_periodic_cron_checking' is undefined. 'aide_periodic_cron_checking' is undefined\n\nThe error appears to be in '/root/.ansible/roles/RedHatOfficial.rhel9_stig/tasks/main.yml': line 90, column 3, but may\nbe elsewhere in the file depending on the exact syntax problem.\n\nThe offending line appears to be:\n\n\n- name: Ensure AIDE is installed\n  ^ here\n"}
==> partitioned-ami.amazon-ebs.partitioned:
==> partitioned-ami.amazon-ebs.partitioned: PLAY RECAP *********************************************************************
==> partitioned-ami.amazon-ebs.partitioned: localhost                  : ok=5    changed=1    unreachable=0    failed=1    skipped=0    rescued=0    ignored=0
==> partitioned-ami.amazon-ebs.partitioned:
==> partitioned-ami.amazon-ebs.partitioned: [ERROR] 2026-02-09 21:41:56 - Command failed: sudo ansible-playbook -i 'localhost,' -c local playbook.yml -e no_empty_passwords=false -e sudo_remove_nopasswd=false -e ansible_dnf_use_system_config=true
==> partitioned-ami.amazon-ebs.partitioned: [ERROR] 2026-02-09 21:41:56 - Ansible playbook run failed.
==> partitioned-ami.amazon-ebs.partitioned: Provisioning step had errors: Running the cleanup provisioner, if present...
==> partitioned-ami.amazon-ebs.partitioned: Terminating the source AWS instance...
==> partitioned-ami.amazon-ebs.partitioned: Cleaning up any extra volumes...
==> partitioned-ami.amazon-ebs.partitioned: No volumes to clean up, skipping
==> partitioned-ami.amazon-ebs.partitioned: Deleting temporary security group...
==> partitioned-ami.amazon-ebs.partitioned: Deleting temporary keypair...
Build 'partitioned-ami.amazon-ebs.partitioned' errored after 5 minutes 23 seconds: Script exited with non-zero exit status: 1. Allowed exit codes are: [0 2]
==> Wait completed after 5 minutes 23 seconds
==> Some builds didn't complete successfully and had errors:
--> partitioned-ami.amazon-ebs.partitioned: Script exited with non-zero exit status: 1. Allowed exit codes are: [0 2]
==> Builds finished but no artifacts were created.