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SQL Server must generate audit records when unsuccessful attempts to execute privileged activities or other system-level access occur.


Overview

Finding ID Version Rule ID IA Controls Severity
V-214016 SQL6-D0-015000 SV-214016r879875_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 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. To aid in diagnosis, it is necessary to keep track of failed attempts in addition to the successful ones.
STIG Date
MS SQL Server 2016 Instance Security Technical Implementation Guide 2023-06-01

Details

Check Text ( C-15233r313831_chk )
Determine if an audit is configured and started by executing the following query.

SELECT name AS 'Audit Name',
status_desc AS 'Audit Status',
audit_file_path AS 'Current Audit File'
FROM sys.dm_server_audit_status

If no records are returned, this is a finding.

Execute the following query to verify the following events are included in the server audit specification:

APPLICATION_ROLE_CHANGE_PASSWORD_GROUP
AUDIT_CHANGE_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
LOGIN_CHANGE_PASSWORD_GROUP
LOGOUT_GROUP
SCHEMA_OBJECT_CHANGE_GROUP
SCHEMA_OBJECT_OWNERSHIP_CHANGE_GROUP
SCHEMA_OBJECT_PERMISSION_CHANGE_GROUP
SERVER_OBJECT_CHANGE_GROUP
SERVER_OBJECT_OWNERSHIP_CHANGE_GROUP
SERVER_OBJECT_PERMISSION_CHANGE_GROUP
SERVER_OPERATION_GROUP
SERVER_PERMISSION_CHANGE_GROUP
SERVER_PRINCIPAL_CHANGE_GROUP
SERVER_PRINCIPAL_IMPERSONATION_GROUP
SERVER_ROLE_MEMBER_CHANGE_GROUP
SERVER_STATE_CHANGE_GROUP
TRACE_CHANGE_GROUP
USER_CHANGE_PASSWORD_GROUP

SELECT a.name AS 'AuditName',
s.name AS 'SpecName',
d.audit_action_name AS 'ActionName',
d.audited_result AS 'Result'
FROM sys.server_audit_specifications s
JOIN sys.server_audits a ON s.audit_guid = a.audit_guid
JOIN sys.server_audit_specification_details d ON s.server_specification_id = d.server_specification_id
WHERE a.is_state_enabled = 1
AND d.audit_action_name IN ('APPLICATION_ROLE_CHANGE_PASSWORD_GROUP',
'AUDIT_CHANGE_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',
'LOGIN_CHANGE_PASSWORD_GROUP',
'LOGOUT_GROUP',
'SCHEMA_OBJECT_CHANGE_GROUP',
'SCHEMA_OBJECT_OWNERSHIP_CHANGE_GROUP',
'SCHEMA_OBJECT_PERMISSION_CHANGE_GROUP',
'SERVER_OBJECT_CHANGE_GROUP',
'SERVER_OBJECT_OWNERSHIP_CHANGE_GROUP',
'SERVER_OBJECT_PERMISSION_CHANGE_GROUP',
'SERVER_OPERATION_GROUP',
'SERVER_PERMISSION_CHANGE_GROUP',
'SERVER_PRINCIPAL_CHANGE_GROUP',
'SERVER_PRINCIPAL_IMPERSONATION_GROUP',
'SERVER_ROLE_MEMBER_CHANGE_GROUP',
'SERVER_STATE_CHANGE_GROUP',
'TRACE_CHANGE_GROUP',
'USER_CHANGE_PASSWORD_GROUP'
)
Order by d.audit_action_name


If the identified groups are not returned, this is a finding.
Fix Text (F-15231r313832_fix)
Add the required events to the server audit specification
USE [master];
GO

ALTER SERVER AUDIT SPECIFICATION STIG_AUDIT_SERVER_SPECIFICATION WITH (STATE = OFF);
GO

ALTER SERVER AUDIT SPECIFICATION STIG_AUDIT_SERVER_SPECIFICATION ADD (APPLICATION_ROLE_CHANGE_PASSWORD_GROUP);
ALTER SERVER AUDIT SPECIFICATION STIG_AUDIT_SERVER_SPECIFICATION ADD (AUDIT_CHANGE_GROUP);
ALTER SERVER AUDIT SPECIFICATION STIG_AUDIT_SERVER_SPECIFICATION ADD (BACKUP_RESTORE_GROUP);
ALTER SERVER AUDIT SPECIFICATION STIG_AUDIT_SERVER_SPECIFICATION ADD (DATABASE_CHANGE_GROUP);
ALTER SERVER AUDIT SPECIFICATION STIG_AUDIT_SERVER_SPECIFICATION ADD (DATABASE_OBJECT_CHANGE_GROUP);
ALTER SERVER AUDIT SPECIFICATION STIG_AUDIT_SERVER_SPECIFICATION ADD (DATABASE_OBJECT_OWNERSHIP_CHANGE_GROUP);
ALTER SERVER AUDIT SPECIFICATION STIG_AUDIT_SERVER_SPECIFICATION ADD (DATABASE_OBJECT_PERMISSION_CHANGE_GROUP);
ALTER SERVER AUDIT SPECIFICATION STIG_AUDIT_SERVER_SPECIFICATION ADD (DATABASE_OPERATION_GROUP);
ALTER SERVER AUDIT SPECIFICATION STIG_AUDIT_SERVER_SPECIFICATION ADD (DATABASE_OWNERSHIP_CHANGE_GROUP);
ALTER SERVER AUDIT SPECIFICATION STIG_AUDIT_SERVER_SPECIFICATION ADD (DATABASE_PERMISSION_CHANGE_GROUP);
ALTER SERVER AUDIT SPECIFICATION STIG_AUDIT_SERVER_SPECIFICATION ADD (DATABASE_PRINCIPAL_CHANGE_GROUP);
ALTER SERVER AUDIT SPECIFICATION STIG_AUDIT_SERVER_SPECIFICATION ADD (DATABASE_PRINCIPAL_IMPERSONATION_GROUP);
ALTER SERVER AUDIT SPECIFICATION STIG_AUDIT_SERVER_SPECIFICATION ADD (DATABASE_ROLE_MEMBER_CHANGE_GROUP);
ALTER SERVER AUDIT SPECIFICATION STIG_AUDIT_SERVER_SPECIFICATION ADD (DBCC_GROUP);
ALTER SERVER AUDIT SPECIFICATION STIG_AUDIT_SERVER_SPECIFICATION ADD (LOGIN_CHANGE_PASSWORD_GROUP);
ALTER SERVER AUDIT SPECIFICATION STIG_AUDIT_SERVER_SPECIFICATION ADD (LOGOUT_GROUP);
ALTER SERVER AUDIT SPECIFICATION STIG_AUDIT_SERVER_SPECIFICATION ADD (SCHEMA_OBJECT_CHANGE_GROUP);
ALTER SERVER AUDIT SPECIFICATION STIG_AUDIT_SERVER_SPECIFICATION ADD (SCHEMA_OBJECT_OWNERSHIP_CHANGE_GROUP);
ALTER SERVER AUDIT SPECIFICATION STIG_AUDIT_SERVER_SPECIFICATION ADD (SCHEMA_OBJECT_PERMISSION_CHANGE_GROUP);
ALTER SERVER AUDIT SPECIFICATION STIG_AUDIT_SERVER_SPECIFICATION ADD (SERVER_OBJECT_CHANGE_GROUP);
ALTER SERVER AUDIT SPECIFICATION STIG_AUDIT_SERVER_SPECIFICATION ADD (SERVER_OBJECT_OWNERSHIP_CHANGE_GROUP);
ALTER SERVER AUDIT SPECIFICATION STIG_AUDIT_SERVER_SPECIFICATION ADD (SERVER_OBJECT_PERMISSION_CHANGE_GROUP);
ALTER SERVER AUDIT SPECIFICATION STIG_AUDIT_SERVER_SPECIFICATION ADD (SERVER_OPERATION_GROUP);
ALTER SERVER AUDIT SPECIFICATION STIG_AUDIT_SERVER_SPECIFICATION ADD (SERVER_PERMISSION_CHANGE_GROUP);
ALTER SERVER AUDIT SPECIFICATION STIG_AUDIT_SERVER_SPECIFICATION ADD (SERVER_PRINCIPAL_CHANGE_GROUP);
ALTER SERVER AUDIT SPECIFICATION STIG_AUDIT_SERVER_SPECIFICATION ADD (SERVER_PRINCIPAL_IMPERSONATION_GROUP);
ALTER SERVER AUDIT SPECIFICATION STIG_AUDIT_SERVER_SPECIFICATION ADD (SERVER_ROLE_MEMBER_CHANGE_GROUP);
ALTER SERVER AUDIT SPECIFICATION STIG_AUDIT_SERVER_SPECIFICATION ADD (SERVER_STATE_CHANGE_GROUP);
ALTER SERVER AUDIT SPECIFICATION STIG_AUDIT_SERVER_SPECIFICATION ADD (TRACE_CHANGE_GROUP);
ALTER SERVER AUDIT SPECIFICATION STIG_AUDIT_SERVER_SPECIFICATION ADD (USER_CHANGE_PASSWORD_GROUP);
GO

ALTER SERVER AUDIT SPECIFICATION STIG_AUDIT_SERVER_SPECIFICATION WITH (STATE = ON);
GO