SQL Server must provide an immediate real-time alert to appropriate support staff of all audit log failures.

Overview

Finding ID	Version	Rule ID	IA Controls	Severity
V-79231	SQL6-D0-011100	SV-93937r2_rule		Medium

Description
It is critical for the appropriate personnel to be aware if a system is at risk of failing to process audit logs as required. Without a real-time alert, security personnel may be unaware of an impending failure of the audit capability, and system operation may be adversely affected. The appropriate support staff include, at a minimum, the ISSO and the DBA/SA. A failure of database auditing will result in either the database continuing to function without auditing or in a complete halt to database operations. When audit processing fails, appropriate personnel must be alerted immediately to avoid further downtime or unaudited transactions Alerts provide organizations with urgent messages. Real-time alerts provide these messages immediately (i.e., the time from event detection to alert occurs in seconds or less). Alerts can be generated using tools like the SQL Server Agent Alerts and Database Mail.

Description

It is critical for the appropriate personnel to be aware if a system is at risk of failing to process audit logs as required. Without a real-time alert, security personnel may be unaware of an impending failure of the audit capability, and system operation may be adversely affected. The appropriate support staff include, at a minimum, the ISSO and the DBA/SA. A failure of database auditing will result in either the database continuing to function without auditing or in a complete halt to database operations. When audit processing fails, appropriate personnel must be alerted immediately to avoid further downtime or unaudited transactions Alerts provide organizations with urgent messages. Real-time alerts provide these messages immediately (i.e., the time from event detection to alert occurs in seconds or less). Alerts can be generated using tools like the SQL Server Agent Alerts and Database Mail.

STIG	Date
MS SQL Server 2016 Instance Security Technical Implementation Guide	2020-06-15

Details

Check Text ( C-78823r3_chk )
Review SQL Server settings, OS, or third-party logging software settings to determine whether a real-time alert will be sent to the appropriate personnel when auditing fails for any reason. If real-time alerts are not sent upon auditing failure, this is a finding.

Fix Text (F-85983r2_fix)
Configure the system to provide immediate real-time alerts to appropriate support staff when an audit log failure occurs.