Azure SQL Database must generate audit records for all privileged activities or other system-level access.

Overview

Finding ID	Version	Rule ID	IA Controls	Severity
V-255370	ASQL-00-014900	SV-255370r961827_rule		Medium

Description
Without tracking privileged activity, it would be difficult to establish, correlate, and investigate the events relating to an incident or identify those responsible for one. System documentation should include a definition of the functionality considered privileged. A privileged function in this context is any operation that modifies the structure of the database, its built-in logic, or its security settings. This would include all Data Definition Language (DDL) statements and all security-related statements. In an SQL environment, it encompasses, but is not necessarily limited to: CREATE ALTER DROP GRANT REVOKE DENY There may also be Data Manipulation Language (DML) statements that, subject to context, should be regarded as privileged. Possible examples in SQL include: TRUNCATE TABLE; DELETE, or DELETE affecting more than n rows, for some n, or DELETE without a WHERE clause; UPDATE or UPDATE affecting more than n rows, for some n, or UPDATE without a WHERE clause; any SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, or DELETE to an application-defined security table executed by other than a security principal. Depending on the capabilities of Azure SQL Database and the design of the database and associated applications, audit logging may be achieved by means of Azure SQL Database auditing features, database triggers, other mechanisms, or a combination of these. Note that it is particularly important to audit, and tightly control, any action that weakens the implementation of this requirement itself, since the objective is to have a complete audit trail of all administrative activity.

Description

Without tracking privileged activity, it would be difficult to establish, correlate, and investigate the events relating to an incident or identify those responsible for one. System documentation should include a definition of the functionality considered privileged. A privileged function in this context is any operation that modifies the structure of the database, its built-in logic, or its security settings. This would include all Data Definition Language (DDL) statements and all security-related statements. In an SQL environment, it encompasses, but is not necessarily limited to: CREATE ALTER DROP GRANT REVOKE DENY There may also be Data Manipulation Language (DML) statements that, subject to context, should be regarded as privileged. Possible examples in SQL include: TRUNCATE TABLE; DELETE, or DELETE affecting more than n rows, for some n, or DELETE without a WHERE clause; UPDATE or UPDATE affecting more than n rows, for some n, or UPDATE without a WHERE clause; any SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, or DELETE to an application-defined security table executed by other than a security principal. Depending on the capabilities of Azure SQL Database and the design of the database and associated applications, audit logging may be achieved by means of Azure SQL Database auditing features, database triggers, other mechanisms, or a combination of these. Note that it is particularly important to audit, and tightly control, any action that weakens the implementation of this requirement itself, since the objective is to have a complete audit trail of all administrative activity.

STIG	Date
Microsoft Azure SQL Database Security Technical Implementation Guide	2024-06-10

Details

Check Text ( C-59043r871234_chk )
Review Azure SQL Database configuration to verify that audit records are produced for all privileged activities or other system-level access. To determine if an audit is configured, execute the following script. Run this TSQL command to determine if SQL Auditing AuditActionGroups are configured: SELECT DISTINCT sd.audit_action_name FROM sys.database_audit_specification_details sd JOIN sys.database_audit_specifications s ON s.database_specification_id = sd.database_specification_id WHERE (name = 'SqlDbAuditing_ServerAuditSpec' /Server Audit/ OR name = 'SqlDbAuditing_AuditSpec') /Database Audit/ AND s.is_state_enabled = 1 ORDER BY sd.audit_action_name If no values exist for AuditActionGroup, this is a finding. Verify the following AuditActionGroup(s) are configured: APPLICATION_ROLE_CHANGE_PASSWORD_GROUP BACKUP_RESTORE_GROUP DATABASE_CHANGE_GROUP DATABASE_OBJECT_CHANGE_GROUP DATABASE_OBJECT_OWNERSHIP_CHANGE_GROUP DATABASE_OBJECT_PERMISSION_CHANGE_GROUP DATABASE_OPERATION_GROUP DATABASE_OWNERSHIP_CHANGE_GROUP DATABASE_PERMISSION_CHANGE_GROUP DATABASE_PRINCIPAL_CHANGE_GROUP DATABASE_PRINCIPAL_IMPERSONATION_GROUP DATABASE_ROLE_MEMBER_CHANGE_GROUP DBCC_GROUP SCHEMA_OBJECT_CHANGE_GROUP SCHEMA_OBJECT_OWNERSHIP_CHANGE_GROUP SCHEMA_OBJECT_PERMISSION_CHANGE_GROUP USER_CHANGE_PASSWORD_GROUP If any listed AuditActionGroups do not exist in the configuration, this is a finding.

Check Text ( C-59043r871234_chk )

Review Azure SQL Database configuration to verify that audit records are produced for all privileged activities or other system-level access.

To determine if an audit is configured, execute the following script.
Run this TSQL command to determine if SQL Auditing AuditActionGroups are configured:
SELECT DISTINCT sd.audit_action_name
FROM sys.database_audit_specification_details sd
JOIN sys.database_audit_specifications s
ON s.database_specification_id = sd.database_specification_id
WHERE (name = 'SqlDbAuditing_ServerAuditSpec' /*Server Audit*/
OR name = 'SqlDbAuditing_AuditSpec') /*Database Audit*/
AND s.is_state_enabled = 1
ORDER BY sd.audit_action_name

If no values exist for AuditActionGroup, this is a finding.

Verify the following AuditActionGroup(s) are configured:
APPLICATION_ROLE_CHANGE_PASSWORD_GROUP
BACKUP_RESTORE_GROUP
DATABASE_CHANGE_GROUP
DATABASE_OBJECT_CHANGE_GROUP
DATABASE_OBJECT_OWNERSHIP_CHANGE_GROUP
DATABASE_OBJECT_PERMISSION_CHANGE_GROUP
DATABASE_OPERATION_GROUP
DATABASE_OWNERSHIP_CHANGE_GROUP
DATABASE_PERMISSION_CHANGE_GROUP
DATABASE_PRINCIPAL_CHANGE_GROUP
DATABASE_PRINCIPAL_IMPERSONATION_GROUP
DATABASE_ROLE_MEMBER_CHANGE_GROUP
DBCC_GROUP
SCHEMA_OBJECT_CHANGE_GROUP
SCHEMA_OBJECT_OWNERSHIP_CHANGE_GROUP
SCHEMA_OBJECT_PERMISSION_CHANGE_GROUP
USER_CHANGE_PASSWORD_GROUP

If any listed AuditActionGroups do not exist in the configuration, this is a finding.

Fix Text (F-58987r871235_fix)
Deploy an Azure SQL Database audit. Refer to the supplemental file "AzureSQLDatabaseAudit.txt" PowerShell script. Reference: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/module/az.sql/set-azsqlserveraudit">https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/module/az.sql/set-azsqlserveraudit