The DBMS must automatically audit account creation.

Overview

Finding ID	Version	Rule ID	IA Controls	Severity
V-61565	O121-C2-002200	SV-76055r2_rule		Medium

Description
Once an attacker establishes initial access to a system, they often attempt to create a persistent method of re-establishing access. One way to accomplish this is for the attacker to simply create a new account. Auditing of account creation is one method and best practice for mitigating this risk. A comprehensive account management process will ensure an audit trail documents the creation of application user accounts and, as required, notifies administrators and/or application owners that they exist. Such a process greatly reduces the risk that accounts will be surreptitiously created and provides logging that can be used for forensic purposes. Note that user authentication and account management should be done via an enterprise-wide mechanism whenever possible. Examples of enterprise-level authentication/access mechanisms include, but are not limited to, Active Directory and LDAP. However, notwithstanding how accounts are managed, Oracle auditing should always be configured to capture account creation.

Description

Once an attacker establishes initial access to a system, they often attempt to create a persistent method of re-establishing access. One way to accomplish this is for the attacker to simply create a new account. Auditing of account creation is one method and best practice for mitigating this risk. A comprehensive account management process will ensure an audit trail documents the creation of application user accounts and, as required, notifies administrators and/or application owners that they exist. Such a process greatly reduces the risk that accounts will be surreptitiously created and provides logging that can be used for forensic purposes. Note that user authentication and account management should be done via an enterprise-wide mechanism whenever possible. Examples of enterprise-level authentication/access mechanisms include, but are not limited to, Active Directory and LDAP. However, notwithstanding how accounts are managed, Oracle auditing should always be configured to capture account creation.

STIG	Date
Oracle Database 12c Security Technical Implementation Guide	2018-01-03

Details

Check Text ( C-62437r3_chk )
Check Oracle settings (and also OS settings and/or enterprise-level authentication/access mechanisms settings) to determine if account creation is being audited. If account creation is not being audited by Oracle, this is a finding. If Standard Auditing is used: To see if Oracle is configured to capture audit data, enter the following SQLPlus command: SHOW PARAMETER AUDIT_TRAIL or the following SQL query: SELECT FROM SYS.V$PARAMETER WHERE NAME = 'audit_trail'; If Oracle returns the value 'NONE', this is a finding. If Unified Auditing is used: To see if Oracle is configured to capture audit data including account creation, enter the following SQLPlus command: SELECT ' Account creation is not being audited. ' FROM dual WHERE (SELECT Count() FROM (select policy_name , audit_option from audit_unified_policies WHERE audit_option = 'CREATE USER' and policy_name in (select policy_name from audit_unified_enabled_policies where user_name='ALL USERS'))) = 0 OR (SELECT value FROM v$option WHERE parameter = 'Unified Auditing') != 'TRUE'; If Oracle returns "no rows selected", this is not a finding.

Check Text ( C-62437r3_chk )

Check Oracle settings (and also OS settings and/or enterprise-level authentication/access mechanisms settings) to determine if account creation is being audited. If account creation is not being audited by Oracle, this is a finding.

If Standard Auditing is used:
To see if Oracle is configured to capture audit data, enter the following SQL*Plus command:
SHOW PARAMETER AUDIT_TRAIL
or the following SQL query:
SELECT * FROM SYS.V$PARAMETER WHERE NAME = 'audit_trail';
If Oracle returns the value 'NONE', this is a finding.

If Unified Auditing is used:
To see if Oracle is configured to capture audit data including account creation, enter the following SQL*Plus command:
SELECT ' Account creation is not being audited. '
FROM dual
WHERE (SELECT Count(*)
FROM (select policy_name , audit_option from audit_unified_policies
WHERE audit_option = 'CREATE USER'
and policy_name in (select policy_name from audit_unified_enabled_policies where user_name='ALL USERS'))) = 0
OR (SELECT value
FROM v$option
WHERE parameter = 'Unified Auditing') != 'TRUE';

If Oracle returns "no rows selected", this is not a finding.

Fix Text (F-67481r2_fix)
Configure Oracle to audit account creation activities. If Standard Auditing is used: Use this process to ensure auditable events are captured: ALTER SYSTEM SET AUDIT_TRAIL= SCOPE=SPFILE; Audit trail type can be 'OS', 'DB', 'DB,EXTENDED', 'XML' or 'XML,EXTENDED'. After executing this statement, it may be necessary to shut down and restart the Oracle database. If Unified Auditing is used: To ensure auditable events are captured: Link the oracle binary with uniaud_on, and then restart the database. Oracle Database Upgrade Guide describes how to enable unified auditing. Reference V-61625 for information on how to configure a policy to audit account creation. For more information on the configuration of auditing, refer to the following documents: "Auditing Database Activity" in the Oracle Database 2 Day + Security Guide: http://docs.oracle.com/database/121/TDPSG/tdpsg_auditing.htm#TDPSG50000 "Monitoring Database Activity with Auditing" in the Oracle Database Security Guide: http://docs.oracle.com/database/121/DBSEG/part_6.htm#CCHEHCGI "DBMS_AUDIT_MGMT" in the Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference: http://docs.oracle.com/database/121/ARPLS/d_audit_mgmt.htm#ARPLS241 Oracle Database Upgrade Guide: http://docs.oracle.com/database/121/UPGRD/afterup.htm#UPGRD52810

Fix Text (F-67481r2_fix)

Configure Oracle to audit account creation activities.

If Standard Auditing is used:
Use this process to ensure auditable events are captured:
ALTER SYSTEM SET AUDIT_TRAIL= SCOPE=SPFILE;
Audit trail type can be 'OS', 'DB', 'DB,EXTENDED', 'XML' or 'XML,EXTENDED'.
After executing this statement, it may be necessary to shut down and restart the Oracle database.

If Unified Auditing is used:
To ensure auditable events are captured:
Link the oracle binary with uniaud_on, and then restart the database. Oracle Database Upgrade Guide describes how to enable unified auditing. Reference V-61625 for information on how to configure a policy to audit account creation.

For more information on the configuration of auditing, refer to the following documents:
"Auditing Database Activity" in the Oracle Database 2 Day + Security Guide:
http://docs.oracle.com/database/121/TDPSG/tdpsg_auditing.htm#TDPSG50000
"Monitoring Database Activity with Auditing" in the Oracle Database Security Guide:
http://docs.oracle.com/database/121/DBSEG/part_6.htm#CCHEHCGI
"DBMS_AUDIT_MGMT" in the Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference:
http://docs.oracle.com/database/121/ARPLS/d_audit_mgmt.htm#ARPLS241
Oracle Database Upgrade Guide:
http://docs.oracle.com/database/121/UPGRD/afterup.htm#UPGRD52810