System BIOS or system controllers supporting password protection must have administrator accounts/passwords configured, and no others.

Overview

Finding ID	Version	Rule ID	IA Controls	Severity
V-4246	GEN008620	SV-38423r1_rule	ECSC-1	Medium

Description
A system's BIOS or system controller handles the initial startup of a system and its configuration must be protected from unauthorized modification. When the BIOS or system controller supports the creation of user accounts or passwords, such protections must be used and accounts/passwords only assigned to system administrators. Failure to protect BIOS or system controller settings could result in Denial of Service or compromise of the system resulting from unauthorized configuration changes.

Description

A system's BIOS or system controller handles the initial startup of a system and its configuration must be protected from unauthorized modification. When the BIOS or system controller supports the creation of user accounts or passwords, such protections must be used and accounts/passwords only assigned to system administrators. Failure to protect BIOS or system controller settings could result in Denial of Service or compromise of the system resulting from unauthorized configuration changes.

STIG	Date
HP-UX 11.31 Security Technical Implementation Guide	2016-12-20

Details

Check Text ( C-36797r1_chk )
On systems with a BIOS or system controller, verify a supervisor or administrator password is set. If a password is not set, this is a finding. Attempt to log into the system controller first using the user/pwd format of Admin/Admin, then as Oper/Oper. Also, depending upon the MP/SP/GSP, it may also allow for simple carriage return entry / if account(s)/password(s) are uninitialized. If the BIOS or system controller supports user-level access in addition to supervisor/administrator access, determine if this access is enabled. If so, this is a finding.

Check Text ( C-36797r1_chk )

On systems with a BIOS or system controller, verify a supervisor or administrator password is set. If a password is not set, this is a finding.

Attempt to log into the system controller first using the user/pwd format of Admin/Admin, then as Oper/Oper. Also, depending upon the MP/SP/GSP, it may also allow for simple carriage return entry / if account(s)/password(s) are uninitialized.

If the BIOS or system controller supports user-level access in addition to supervisor/administrator access, determine if this access is enabled. If so, this is a finding.

Fix Text (F-32174r1_fix)
Access the system's BIOS or system controller. Set a supervisor/administrator password if one has not been set. Disable a user-level password if one has been set.