The vCenter PostgreSQL service must maintain the authenticity of communications sessions by guarding against man-in-the-middle attacks that guess at Session ID values.

Overview

Finding ID	Version	Rule ID	IA Controls	Severity
V-259178	VCPG-80-000049	SV-259178r935438_rule		Medium

Description
One class of man-in-the-middle, or session hijacking, attack involves the adversary guessing at valid session identifiers based on patterns in identifiers already known. The preferred technique for thwarting guesses at Session IDs is the generation of unique session identifiers using a FIPS 140-2 approved random number generator. However, it is recognized that available database management system (DBMS) products do not all implement the preferred technique yet may have other protections against session hijacking. Therefore, other techniques are acceptable, provided they are demonstrated to be effective. Satisfies: SRG-APP-000224-DB-000384, SRG-APP-000441-DB-000378, SRG-APP-000442-DB-000379

Description

One class of man-in-the-middle, or session hijacking, attack involves the adversary guessing at valid session identifiers based on patterns in identifiers already known. The preferred technique for thwarting guesses at Session IDs is the generation of unique session identifiers using a FIPS 140-2 approved random number generator. However, it is recognized that available database management system (DBMS) products do not all implement the preferred technique yet may have other protections against session hijacking. Therefore, other techniques are acceptable, provided they are demonstrated to be effective. Satisfies: SRG-APP-000224-DB-000384, SRG-APP-000441-DB-000378, SRG-APP-000442-DB-000379

STIG	Date
VMware vSphere 8.0 vCenter Appliance PostgreSQL Security Technical Implementation Guide	2023-10-29

Details

Check Text ( C-62918r935436_chk )
At the command prompt, run the following command: # /opt/vmware/vpostgres/current/bin/psql -U postgres -A -t -c "SHOW ssl;" If "ssl" is not set to "on", this is a finding.

Fix Text (F-62827r935437_fix)
At the command prompt, run the following command: # /opt/vmware/vpostgres/current/bin/psql -U postgres -c "ALTER SYSTEM SET ssl = 'on';" # /opt/vmware/vpostgres/current/bin/psql -U postgres -c "ALTER SYSTEM SET ssl_cert_file = '/storage/db/vpostgres_ssl/server.crt';" # /opt/vmware/vpostgres/current/bin/psql -U postgres -c "ALTER SYSTEM SET ssl_key_file = '/storage/db/vpostgres_ssl/server.key';" # /opt/vmware/vpostgres/current/bin/psql -U postgres -c "ALTER SYSTEM SET ssl_ca_file = '/storage/db/vpostgres_ssl/root_ca.pem';" Restart the PostgreSQL service by running the following command: # vmon-cli --restart vmware-vpostgres

Fix Text (F-62827r935437_fix)

At the command prompt, run the following command:

# /opt/vmware/vpostgres/current/bin/psql -U postgres -c "ALTER SYSTEM SET ssl = 'on';"
# /opt/vmware/vpostgres/current/bin/psql -U postgres -c "ALTER SYSTEM SET ssl_cert_file = '/storage/db/vpostgres_ssl/server.crt';"
# /opt/vmware/vpostgres/current/bin/psql -U postgres -c "ALTER SYSTEM SET ssl_key_file = '/storage/db/vpostgres_ssl/server.key';"
# /opt/vmware/vpostgres/current/bin/psql -U postgres -c "ALTER SYSTEM SET ssl_ca_file = '/storage/db/vpostgres_ssl/root_ca.pem';"

Restart the PostgreSQL service by running the following command:

# vmon-cli --restart vmware-vpostgres