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VMware vSphere 7.0 vCenter Appliance PostgreSQL Security Technical Implementation Guide

Overview

Version Date Finding Count (20) Downloads
1 2023-06-15 CAT I (High): 3 CAT II (Medium): 16 CAT III (Low): 1 Excel JSON XML
Stig Description
This Security Technical Implementation Guide is published as a tool to improve the security of Department of Defense (DOD) information systems. The requirements are derived from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) 800-53 and related documents. Comments or proposed revisions to this document should be sent via email to the following address: disa.stig_spt@mail.mil.
Classified Public Sensitive  
I - Mission Critical Classified I - Mission Critical Public I - Mission Critical Sensitive II - Mission Critical Classified II - Mission Critical Public II - Mission Critical Sensitive III - Mission Critical Classified III - Mission Critical Public III - Mission Critical Sensitive

Findings - All

Finding ID Severity Title Description
V-256603 High VMware Postgres must use FIPS 140-2 approved Transport Layer Security (TLS) ciphers. Use of weak or unvalidated cryptographic algorithms undermines the purposes of using encryption and digital signatures to protect data. Weak algorithms can be broken, and unvalidated cryptographic modules may not implement algorithms correctly. Unapproved cryptographic modules or algorithms should not be relied on for authentication, confidentiality, or integrity. Weak cryptography...
V-256602 High VMware Postgres must enforce authorized access to all public key infrastructure (PKI) private keys. The DOD standard for authentication is DOD-approved PKI certificates. PKI certificate-based authentication is performed by requiring the certificate holder to cryptographically prove possession of the corresponding private key. If a private key is stolen, an attacker can use it to impersonate the certificate holder. In cases where the database management...
V-256601 High VMware Postgres must be configured to use Transport Layer Security (TLS). The DOD standard for authentication is DOD-approved public key infrastructure (PKI) certificates. Authentication based on user ID and password may be used only when it is not possible to employ a PKI certificate. In such cases, passwords, must be protected at all times, and encryption is the standard method for...
V-256610 Medium VMware Postgres must use Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) for log timestamps. If time stamps are not consistently applied and there is no common time reference, it is difficult to perform forensic analysis. Time stamps generated by VMware Postgres must include date and time expressed in UTC, a modern continuation of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).
V-256609 Medium "Rsyslog" must be configured to monitor VMware Postgres logs. For performance reasons, "rsyslog" file monitoring is preferred over configuring VMware Postgres to send events to a "syslog" facility. Without ensuring that logs are created, that "rsyslog" configs are created, and that those configs are loaded, the log file monitoring and shipping will not be effective. Satisfies: SRG-APP-000359-DB-000319, SRG-APP-000360-DB-000320, SRG-APP-000515-DB-000318
V-256608 Medium VMware Postgres must be configured to log to "stderr". Without the ability to centrally manage the content captured in the audit records, identification, troubleshooting, and correlation of suspicious behavior would be difficult and could lead to a delayed or incomplete analysis of an ongoing attack. The content captured in audit records must be managed from a central location (necessitating...
V-256607 Medium VMware Postgres must have log collection enabled. Without the ability to centrally manage the content captured in the audit records, identification, troubleshooting, and correlation of suspicious behavior would be difficult and could lead to a delayed or incomplete analysis of an ongoing attack. The content captured in audit records must be managed from a central location (necessitating...
V-256606 Medium VMware Postgres must provide nonprivileged users with minimal error information. Any database management system (DBMS) or associated application providing too much information in error messages on the screen or printout risks compromising the data and security of the system. The structure and content of error messages must contain the minimal amount of information. Databases can inadvertently provide a wealth of...
V-256605 Medium VMware Postgres must not allow schema access to unauthorized accounts. Database management systems typically separate security functionality from nonsecurity functionality via separate databases or schemas. Database objects or code implementing security functionality should not be commingled with objects or code implementing application logic. When security and nonsecurity functionality are commingled, users who have access to nonsecurity functionality may be able...
V-256604 Medium VMware Postgres must write log entries to disk prior to returning operation success or failure. Failure to a known secure state helps prevent a loss of confidentiality, integrity, or availability in the event of a failure of the information system or a component of the system. Preserving system state information helps to facilitate system restart and return to the operational mode of the organization with...
V-256600 Medium The vPostgres database must use "md5" for authentication. The DOD standard for authentication is DOD-approved public key infrastructure (PKI) certificates. Authentication based on user ID and password may be used only when it is not possible to employ a PKI certificate, and requires authorizing official approval. In such cases, database passwords stored in clear text, using reversible encryption...
V-256598 Medium VMware Postgres must be configured to use the correct port. To prevent unauthorized connection of devices, unauthorized transfer of information, or unauthorized tunneling (i.e., embedding of data types within data types), organizations must disable or restrict unused or unnecessary physical and logical ports, protocols, and services on information systems. Applications are capable of providing a wide variety of functions and...
V-256597 Medium VMware Postgres must limit modify privileges to authorized accounts. If VMware Postgres were to allow any user to make changes to database structure or logic, those changes might be implemented without undergoing the appropriate testing and approvals that are part of a robust change management process. Only qualified and authorized individuals must be allowed to obtain access to information...
V-256596 Medium All vCenter database (VCDB) tables must be owned by the "vc" user account. Within the database, object ownership implies full privileges to the owned object, including the privilege to assign access to the owned objects to other subjects. Database functions and procedures can be coded using definer's rights. This allows anyone who uses the object to perform the actions if they are the...
V-256595 Medium The VMware Postgres database must protect log files from unauthorized access and modification. If audit data were to become compromised, competent forensic analysis and discovery of the true source of potentially malicious system activity would be difficult, if not impossible, to achieve. In addition, access to audit records provides information an attacker could use to their advantage. To ensure the veracity of audit...
V-256594 Medium VMware Postgres must be configured to overwrite older logs when necessary. Without proper configuration, log files for VMware Postgres can grow without bound, filling the partition and potentially affecting the availability of the vCenter Server Appliance (VCSA). One part of this configuration is to ensure the logging subsystem overwrites, rather than appends to, any previous logs that would share the same...
V-256593 Medium VMware Postgres configuration files must not be accessible by unauthorized users. VMware Postgres has a few configuration files that directly control the security posture of the database management system (DBMS). Protecting these files from unauthorized access and modification is fundamental to ensuring the security of VMware Postgres. Satisfies: SRG-APP-000090-DB-000065, SRG-APP-000121-DB-000202, SRG-APP-000122-DB-000203, SRG-APP-000123-DB-000204, SRG-APP-000380-DB-000360
V-256592 Medium VMware Postgres log files must contain required fields. Without the capability to generate audit records, it would be difficult to establish, correlate, and investigate the events relating to an incident or identify those responsible for one. As an embedded database that is only accessible via "localhost", VMware Postgres on the vCenter Server Appliance (VCSA) does not implement robust...
V-256591 Medium VMware Postgres must limit the number of connections. Database management includes the ability to control the number of users and user sessions utilizing a database management system (DBMS). Unlimited concurrent connections to the DBMS could allow a successful denial-of-service (DoS) attack by exhausting connection resources, and a system can also fail or be degraded by an overload of...
V-256599 Low VMware Postgres must require authentication on all connections. To ensure accountability and prevent unauthenticated access, organizational users must be identified and authenticated to prevent potential misuse and compromise of the system. VMware Postgres client authentication configuration is configured in "pg_hba.conf". In this file are a number of lines that specify who can connect to the service, from where,...