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Web Server Security Requirements Guide

Overview

Version Date Finding Count (124) Downloads
4 2024-09-09 CAT I (High): 4 CAT II (Medium): 119 CAT III (Low): 0 Excel JSON XML
Stig Description
This Security Requirements 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-206434 High The web server must employ cryptographic mechanisms (TLS/DTLS/SSL) preventing the unauthorized disclosure of information during transmission. Preventing the disclosure of transmitted information requires that the web server take measures to employ some form of cryptographic mechanism in order to protect the information during transmission. This is usually achieved through the use of Transport Layer Security (TLS). Transmission of data can take place between the web server...
V-206431 High The web server must encrypt user identifiers and passwords. When data is written to digital media, such as hard drives, mobile computers, external/removable hard drives, personal digital assistants, flash/thumb drives, etc., there is risk of data loss and data compromise. User identities and passwords stored on the hard drive of the hosting hardware must be encrypted to protect the...
V-206399 High The web server must generate a unique session identifier for each session using a FIPS 140-2 approved random number generator. Communication between a client and the web server is done using the HTTP protocol, but HTTP is a stateless protocol. In order to maintain a connection or session, a web server will generate a session identifier (ID) for each client session when the session is initiated. The session ID allows...
V-206390 High The web server must use cryptographic modules that meet the requirements of applicable federal laws, Executive Orders, directives, policies, regulations, standards, and guidance when encrypting stored data. Encryption is only as good as the encryption modules utilized. Unapproved cryptographic module algorithms cannot be verified, and cannot be relied upon to provide confidentiality or integrity, and DoD data may be compromised due to weak algorithms. FIPS 140-2 is the current standard for validating cryptographic modules and NSA Type-X...
V-264366 Medium The web server must only use forward proxies that route HTTP/2 requests upstream. Without protection of the transmitted information, confidentiality and integrity may be compromised since unprotected communications can be intercepted and read or altered. Communication paths outside the physical protection of a controlled boundary are exposed to the possibility of interception and modification. It is crucial that the web server and forward...
V-264365 Medium The web server must terminate the connection if server-level exceptions are triggered when handling requests to prevent HTTP request smuggling attacks. The web server defines a set of exceptions for every HTTP status code. Each exception class has a status code according to RFC 2068: Codes with 100-300 are not really errors; 400s are client errors, and 500s are server errors. If not directly specified, headers will be added to the...
V-264364 Medium The web server must interpret and normalize ambiguous HTTP requests or terminate the TCP connection. Request smuggling attacks involve placing both the Content-Length header and the Transfer-Encoding header into a single HTTP/1 request and manipulating it so that web servers (i.e., back-end, front-end, load balancers) process the request differently. There are a number of variants of this type of attack with different names. However, all...
V-264363 Medium The web server must disable HTTP/1.x downgrading. HTTP/2 is backward compatible with HTTP/1.x, so it is possible to configure the architecture to implement a front-end server for HTTP/2 while communicating with one or more back-end servers that support only HTTP/1.x. Thus, the front end effectively has to translate or downgrade the requests it receives into the less...
V-264362 Medium The web server must use HTTP/2, at a minimum. HTTP/2, like HTTPS, enhances security compared to HTTP/1.x by minimizing the risk of header-based attacks (e.g., header injection and manipulation). Websites that fully utilize HTTP/2 are inherently protected and defend against smuggling attacks. HTTP/2 provides the method for specifying the length of a request, which removes any potential for ambiguity...
V-264360 Medium The web server must restrict a consistent inbound source IP for the entire management session. Authenticity protection provides protection against man-in-the-middle attacks/session hijacking and the insertion of false information into sessions. Application communication sessions are protected utilizing transport encryption protocols, such as TLS. TLS provides web applications with a means to be able to authenticate user sessions and encrypt application traffic. Session authentication can be...
V-264359 Medium The web server must compare the internal system clocks on an organization-defined frequency with organization-defined authoritative time source. Synchronization of internal system clocks with an authoritative source provides uniformity of time stamps for systems with multiple system clocks and systems connected over a network.
V-264358 Medium The web server must synchronize system clocks within and between systems or system components. Time synchronization of system clocks is essential for the correct execution of many system services, including identification and authentication processes that involve certificates and time-of-day restrictions as part of access control. Denial of service or failure to deny expired credentials may result without properly synchronized clocks within and between systems...
V-264357 Medium The web server must provide protected storage for cryptographic keys with organization-defined safeguards and/or hardware protected key store. A Trusted Platform Module (TPM) is an example of a hardware-protected data store that can be used to protect cryptographic keys.
V-264356 Medium The web server must include only approved trust anchors in trust stores or certificate stores managed by the organization. Public key infrastructure (PKI) certificates are certificates with visibility external to organizational systems and certificates related to the internal operations of systems, such as application-specific time services. In cryptographic systems with a hierarchical structure, a trust anchor is an authoritative source (i.e., a certificate authority) for which trust is assumed...
V-264355 Medium The web server must protect nonlocal maintenance sessions by separating the maintenance session from other network sessions with the system by logically separated communications paths. Nonlocal maintenance and diagnostic activities are conducted by individuals who communicate through either an external or internal network. Communications paths can be logically separated using encryption.
V-264354 Medium The web server must, for public key-based authentication, implement a local cache of revocation data to support path discovery and validation. Public key cryptography is a valid authentication mechanism for individuals, machines, and devices. For PKI solutions, status information for certification paths includes certificate revocation lists or certificate status protocol responses. For PIV cards, certificate validation involves the construction and verification of a certification path to the Common Policy Root trust...
V-264353 Medium The web server must, for password-based authentication, enforce organization-defined composition and complexity rules. Password-based authentication applies to passwords regardless of whether they are used in single-factor or multifactor authentication. Long passwords or passphrases are preferable over shorter passwords. Enforced composition rules provide marginal security benefits while decreasing usability. However, organizations may choose to establish certain rules for password generation (e.g., minimum character length...
V-264352 Medium The web server must, for password-based authentication, employ automated tools to assist the user in selecting strong password authenticators. Password-based authentication applies to passwords regardless of whether they are used in single-factor or multifactor authentication. Long passwords or passphrases are preferable over shorter passwords. Enforced composition rules provide marginal security benefits while decreasing usability. However, organizations may choose to establish certain rules for password generation (e.g., minimum character length...
V-264351 Medium The web server must, for password-based authentication, allow user selection of long passwords and passphrases, including spaces and all printable characters. Password-based authentication applies to passwords regardless of whether they are used in single-factor or multifactor authentication. Long passwords or passphrases are preferable over shorter passwords. Enforced composition rules provide marginal security benefits while decreasing usability. However, organizations may choose to establish certain rules for password generation (e.g., minimum character length...
V-264350 Medium The web server must, for password-based authentication, require immediate selection of a new password upon account recovery. Password-based authentication applies to passwords regardless of whether they are used in single-factor or multifactor authentication. Long passwords or passphrases are preferable over shorter passwords. Enforced composition rules provide marginal security benefits while decreasing usability. However, organizations may choose to establish certain rules for password generation (e.g., minimum character length...
V-264349 Medium The web server must, for password-based authentication, store passwords using an approved salted key derivation function, preferably using a keyed hash. Password-based authentication applies to passwords regardless of whether they are used in single-factor or multifactor authentication. Long passwords or passphrases are preferable over shorter passwords. Enforced composition rules provide marginal security benefits while decreasing usability. However, organizations may choose to establish certain rules for password generation (e.g., minimum character length...
V-264348 Medium The web server must, for password-based authentication, verify when users create or update passwords, that the passwords are not found on the list of commonly-used, expected, or compromised passwords in IA-5 (1) (a). Password-based authentication applies to passwords regardless of whether they are used in single-factor or multifactor authentication. Long passwords or passphrases are preferable over shorter passwords. Enforced composition rules provide marginal security benefits while decreasing usability. However, organizations may choose to establish certain rules for password generation (e.g., minimum character length...
V-264347 Medium The web server must, for password-based authentication, update the list of passwords when organizational passwords are suspected to have been compromised directly or indirectly. Password-based authentication applies to passwords regardless of whether they are used in single-factor or multifactor authentication. Long passwords or passphrases are preferable over shorter passwords. Enforced composition rules provide marginal security benefits while decreasing usability. However, organizations may choose to establish certain rules for password generation (e.g., minimum character length...
V-264346 Medium The web server must, for password-based authentication, update the list of passwords on an organization-defined frequency. Password-based authentication applies to passwords regardless of whether they are used in single-factor or multifactor authentication. Long passwords or passphrases are preferable over shorter passwords. Enforced composition rules provide marginal security benefits while decreasing usability. However, organizations may choose to establish certain rules for password generation (e.g., minimum character length...
V-264345 Medium The web server must, for password-based authentication, maintain a list of commonly used, expected, or compromised passwords on an organization-defined frequency. Password-based authentication applies to passwords regardless of whether they are used in single-factor or multifactor authentication. Long passwords or passphrases are preferable over shorter passwords. Enforced composition rules provide marginal security benefits while decreasing usability. However, organizations may choose to establish certain rules for password generation (e.g., minimum character length...
V-264344 Medium The web server must implement multifactor authentication for local; network; and/or remote access to privileged accounts; and/or nonprivileged accounts such that the device meets organization-defined strength of mechanism requirements. The purpose of requiring a device that is separate from the system to which the user is attempting to gain access for one of the factors during multifactor authentication is to reduce the likelihood of compromising authenticators or credentials stored on the system. Adversaries may be able to compromise such...
V-264343 Medium The web server must implement multifactor authentication for local; network; and/or remote access to privileged accounts; and/or nonprivileged accounts such that one of the factors is provided by a device separate from the system gaining access. The purpose of requiring a device separate from the system to which the user is attempting to gain access for one of the factors during multifactor authentication is to reduce the likelihood of compromising authenticators or credentials stored on the system. Adversaries may be able to compromise such authenticators or...
V-264342 Medium The web server must require users to be individually authenticated before granting access to the shared accounts or resources. Individual authentication prior to shared group authentication mitigates the risk of using group accounts or authenticators.
V-264341 Medium The web server must automatically generate audit records of the enforcement actions. Organizations log system accesses associated with applying configuration changes to ensure that configuration change control is implemented and to support after-the-fact actions should organizations discover any unauthorized changes.
V-264340 Medium The web server must alert organization-defined personnel or roles upon detection of unauthorized access, modification, or deletion of audit information. Audit information includes all information needed to successfully audit system activity, such as audit records, audit log settings, audit reports, and personally identifiable information. Audit logging tools are those programs and devices used to conduct system audit and logging activities. Protection of audit information focuses on technical protection and limits...
V-264339 Medium The web server must implement the capability to centrally review and analyze audit records from multiple components within the system. Automated mechanisms for centralized reviews and analyses include security information and event management products.
V-264338 Medium The web server must disable accounts when the accounts are no longer associated to a user. Disabling expired, inactive, or otherwise anomalous accounts supports the concepts of least privilege and least functionality which reduce the attack surface of the system.
V-264337 Medium The web server must disable accounts when the accounts have expired. Disabling expired, inactive, or otherwise anomalous accounts supports the concepts of least privilege and least functionality which reduce the attack surface of the system.
V-239371 Medium The web server must implement required cryptographic protections using cryptographic modules complying with applicable federal laws, Executive Orders, directives, policies, regulations, standards, and guidance when encrypting data that must be compartmentalized. Cryptography is only as strong as the encryption modules/algorithms employed to encrypt the data. Use of weak or untested encryption algorithms undermines the purposes of utilizing encryption to protect data. NSA has developed Type 1 algorithms for protecting classified information. The Committee on National Security Systems (CNSS) National Information Assurance...
V-206445 Medium The web server must be configured in accordance with the security configuration settings based on DoD security configuration or implementation guidance, including STIGs, NSA configuration guides, CTOs, and DTMs. Configuring the web server to implement organization-wide security implementation guides and security checklists guarantees compliance with federal standards and establishes a common security baseline across the DoD that reflects the most restrictive security posture consistent with operational requirements. Configuration settings are the set of parameters that can be changed that...
V-206444 Medium All accounts installed with the web server software and tools must have passwords assigned and default passwords changed. During installation of the web server software, accounts are created for the web server to operate properly. The accounts installed can have either no password installed or a default password, which will be known and documented by the vendor and the user community. The first things an attacker will try...
V-206443 Medium The web server must install security-relevant software updates within the configured time period directed by an authoritative source (e.g., IAVM, CTOs, DTMs, and STIGs). Security flaws with software applications are discovered daily. Vendors are constantly updating and patching their products to address newly discovered security vulnerabilities. Organizations (including any contractor to the organization) are required to promptly install security-relevant software updates (e.g., patches, service packs, and hot fixes). Flaws discovered during security assessments, continuous...
V-206442 Medium The web server must maintain the confidentiality and integrity of information during reception. Information can be either unintentionally or maliciously disclosed or modified during reception, including, for example, during aggregation, at protocol transformation points, and during packing/unpacking. These unauthorized disclosures or modifications compromise the confidentiality or integrity of the information. Protecting the confidentiality and integrity of received information requires that application servers take...
V-206441 Medium The web server must maintain the confidentiality and integrity of information during preparation for transmission. Information can be either unintentionally or maliciously disclosed or modified during preparation for transmission, including, for example, during aggregation, at protocol transformation points, and during packing/unpacking. These unauthorized disclosures or modifications compromise the confidentiality or integrity of the information. An example of this would be an SMTP queue. This queue...
V-206440 Medium The web server must remove all export ciphers to protect the confidentiality and integrity of transmitted information. During the initial setup of a Transport Layer Security (TLS) connection to the web server, the client sends a list of supported cipher suites in order of preference. The web server will reply with the cipher suite it will use for communication from the client list. If an attacker can...
V-206439 Medium A web server must maintain the confidentiality of controlled information during transmission through the use of an approved TLS version. Transport Layer Security (TLS) is a required transmission protocol for a web server hosting controlled information. The use of TLS provides confidentiality of data in transit between the web server and client. FIPS 140-2 approved TLS versions must be enabled and non-FIPS-approved SSL versions must be disabled. NIST SP 800-52...
V-206438 Medium Cookies exchanged between the web server and the client, such as session cookies, must have cookie properties set to force the encryption of cookies. Cookies can be sent to a client using TLS/SSL to encrypt the cookies, but TLS/SSL is not used by every hosted application since the data being displayed does not require the encryption of the transmission. To safeguard against cookies, especially session cookies, being sent in plaintext, a cookie can be...
V-206437 Medium Cookies exchanged between the web server and the client, such as session cookies, must have cookie properties set to prohibit client-side scripts from reading the cookie data. A cookie can be read by client-side scripts easily if cookie properties are not set properly. By allowing cookies to be read by the client-side scripts, information such as session identifiers could be compromised and used by an attacker who intercepts the cookie. Setting cookie properties (i.e. HttpOnly property) to...
V-206436 Medium Web server cookies, such as session cookies, sent to the client using SSL/TLS must not be compressed. A cookie is used when a web server needs to share data with the client's browser. The data is often used to remember the client when the client returns to the hosted application at a later date. A session cookie is a special type of cookie used to remember the...
V-206435 Medium Web server session IDs must be sent to the client using SSL/TLS. The HTTP protocol is a stateless protocol. To maintain a session, a session identifier is used. The session identifier is a piece of data that is used to identify a session and a user. If the session identifier is compromised by an attacker, the session can be hijacked. By encrypting...
V-206433 Medium The web server must be tuned to handle the operational requirements of the hosted application. A Denial of Service (DoS) can occur when the web server is so overwhelmed that it can no longer respond to additional requests. A web server not properly tuned may become overwhelmed and cause a DoS condition even with expected traffic from users. To avoid a DoS, the web server...
V-206432 Medium The web server must be protected from being stopped by a non-privileged user. An attacker has at least two reasons to stop a web server. The first is to cause a DoS, and the second is to put in place changes the attacker made to the web server configuration. To prohibit an attacker from stopping the web server, the process ID (pid) of...
V-206430 Medium The web server must only accept client certificates (user and machine) issued by DOD PKI or DOD-approved PKI Certificate Authorities (CAs). Non-DOD approved PKIs have not been evaluated to ensure that they have security controls and identity vetting procedures in place which are sufficient for DOD systems to rely on the identity asserted in the certificate. PKIs lacking sufficient security controls and identity vetting procedures risk being compromised and issuing certificates...
V-206428 Medium The web server must prohibit or restrict the use of nonsecure or unnecessary ports, protocols, modules, and/or services. Web servers provide numerous processes, features, and functionalities that utilize TCP/IP ports. Some of these processes may be deemed unnecessary or too unsecure to run on a production system. The web server must provide the capability to disable or deactivate network-related services that are deemed to be non-essential to the...
V-206427 Medium The web server application, libraries, and configuration files must only be accessible to privileged users. A web server can be modified through parameter modification, patch installation, upgrades to the web server or modules, and security parameter changes. With each of these changes, there is the potential for an adverse effect such as a DoS, web server instability, or hosted application instability. To limit changes to...
V-206426 Medium The web server must record time stamps for log records to a minimum granularity of one second. Without sufficient granularity of time stamps, it is not possible to adequately determine the chronological order of records. Time stamps generated by the web server include date and time and must be to a granularity of one second.
V-206425 Medium The web server must generate log records that can be mapped to Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) or Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). If time stamps are not consistently applied and there is no common time reference, it is difficult to perform forensic analysis across multiple devices and log records. Time stamps generated by the web server include date and time. Time is commonly expressed in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), a modern continuation...
V-206424 Medium The web server must use a logging mechanism that is configured to provide a warning to the ISSO and SA when allocated record storage volume reaches 75% of maximum log record storage capacity. It is critical for the appropriate personnel to be aware if a system is at risk of failing to process logs as required. Log processing failures include: software/hardware errors, failures in the log capturing mechanisms, and log storage capacity being reached or exceeded. If log capacity were to be exceeded,...
V-206423 Medium The web server must be configurable to integrate with an organizations security infrastructure. A web server will typically utilize logging mechanisms for maintaining a historical log of activity that occurs within a hosted application. This information can then be used for diagnostic purposes, forensics purposes, or other purposes relevant to ensuring the availability and integrity of the hosted application. While it is important...
V-206422 Medium The web server must not impede the ability to write specified log record content to an audit log server. Writing events to a centralized management audit system offers many benefits to the enterprise over having dispersed logs. Centralized management of audit records and logs provides for efficiency in maintenance and management of records, enterprise analysis of events, and backup and archiving of event records enterprise-wide. The web server and...
V-206421 Medium The web server must use a logging mechanism that is configured to allocate log record storage capacity large enough to accommodate the logging requirements of the web server. In order to make certain that the logging mechanism used by the web server has sufficient storage capacity in which to write the logs, the logging mechanism needs to be able to allocate log record storage capacity. The task of allocating log record storage capacity is usually performed during initial...
V-206419 Medium Non-privileged accounts on the hosting system must only access web server security-relevant information and functions through a distinct administrative account. By separating web server security functions from non-privileged users, roles can be developed that can then be used to administer the web server. Forcing users to change from a non-privileged account to a privileged account when operating on the web server or on security-relevant information forces users to only operate...
V-206418 Medium The web server must provide the capability to immediately disconnect or disable remote access to the hosted applications. During an attack on the web server or any of the hosted applications, the system administrator may need to disconnect or disable access by users to stop the attack. The web server must provide a capability to disconnect users to a hosted application without compromising other hosted applications unless deemed...
V-206417 Medium The web server must restrict inbound connections from nonsecure zones. Remote access to the web server is any access that communicates through an external, non-organization-controlled network. Remote access can be used to access hosted applications or to perform management functions. A web server can be accessed remotely and must be capable of restricting access from what the DoD defines as...
V-206416 Medium Remote access to the web server must follow access policy or work in conjunction with enterprise tools designed to enforce policy requirements. Remote access to the web server is any access that communicates through an external, non-organization-controlled network. Remote access can be used to access hosted applications or to perform management functions. A web server can be accessed remotely and must be able to enforce remote access policy requirements or work in...
V-206415 Medium The web server must set an inactive timeout for sessions. Leaving sessions open indefinitely is a major security risk. An attacker can easily use an already authenticated session to access the hosted application as the previously authenticated user. By closing sessions after a set period of inactivity, the web server can make certain that those sessions that are not closed...
V-206414 Medium The web server must set an absolute session timeout value of eight hours or less. Leaving sessions open indefinitely is a major security risk. An attacker can easily use an already authenticated session to access the hosted application as the previously authenticated user. By closing sessions after an absolute period of time, the user is forced to re-authenticate guaranteeing the session is still in use....
V-206413 Medium Debugging and trace information used to diagnose the web server must be disabled. Information needed by an attacker to begin looking for possible vulnerabilities in a web server includes any information about the web server and plug-ins or modules being used. When debugging or trace information is enabled in a production web server, information about the web server, such as web server type,...
V-206412 Medium Warning and error messages displayed to clients must be modified to minimize the identity of the web server, patches, loaded modules, and directory paths. Information needed by an attacker to begin looking for possible vulnerabilities in a web server includes any information about the web server, backend systems being accessed, and plug-ins or modules being used. Web servers will often display error messages to client users displaying enough information to aid in the debugging...
V-206411 Medium The web server must display a default hosted application web page, not a directory listing, when a requested web page cannot be found. The goal is to completely control the web user's experience in navigating any portion of the web document root directories. Ensuring all web content directories have at least the equivalent of an index.html file is a significant factor to accomplish this end. Enumeration techniques, such as URL parameter manipulation, rely...
V-206410 Medium The web server must limit the character set used for data entry. Invalid user input occurs when a user inserts data or characters into a hosted application's data entry field and the hosted application is unprepared to process that data. This results in unanticipated application behavior, potentially leading to an application compromise. Invalid user input is one of the primary methods employed...
V-206409 Medium The web server must restrict the ability of users to launch Denial of Service (DoS) attacks against other information systems or networks. A web server can limit the ability of the web server being used in a DoS attack through several methods. The methods employed will depend upon the hosted applications and their resource needs for proper operation. An example setting that could be used to limit the ability of the web...
V-206408 Medium The web server document directory must be in a separate partition from the web servers system files. A web server is used to deliver content on the request of a client. The content delivered to a client must be controlled, allowing only hosted application files to be accessed and delivered. To allow a client access to system files of any type is a major security risk that...
V-206407 Medium Information at rest must be encrypted using a DoD-accepted algorithm to protect the confidentiality and integrity of the information. Data at rest is inactive data which is stored physically in any digital form (e.g., databases, data warehouses, spreadsheets, archives, tapes, off-site backups, mobile devices, etc.). Data at rest includes, but is not limited to, archived data, data which is not accessed or changed frequently, files stored on hard drives,...
V-206406 Medium The web server must provide a clustering capability. The web server may host applications that display information that cannot be disrupted, such as information that is time-critical or life-threatening. In these cases, a web server that shuts down or ceases to be accessible when there is a failure is not acceptable. In these types of cases, clustering of...
V-206405 Medium The web server must be built to fail to a known safe state if system initialization fails, shutdown fails, or aborts fail. Determining a safe state for failure and weighing that against a potential DoS for users depends on what type of application the web server is hosting. For an application presenting publicly available information that is not critical, a safe state for failure might be to shut down for any type...
V-206404 Medium The web server must augment re-creation to a stable and known baseline. Making certain that the web server has not been updated by an unauthorized user is always a concern. Adding patches, functions, and modules that are untested and not part of the baseline opens the possibility for security risks. The web server must offer, and not hinder, a method that allows...
V-206403 Medium The web server must generate unique session identifiers with definable entropy. Generating a session identifier (ID) that is not easily guessed through brute force is essential to deter several types of session attacks. By knowing the session ID, an attacker can hijack a user session that has already been user authenticated by the hosted application. The attacker does not need to...
V-206402 Medium The web server must generate a session ID using as much of the character set as possible to reduce the risk of brute force. Generating a session identifier (ID) that is not easily guessed through brute force is essential to deter several types of session attacks. By knowing the session ID, an attacker can hijack a user session that has already been user-authenticated by the hosted application. The attacker does not need to guess...
V-206401 Medium The web server must generate a session ID long enough that it cannot be guessed through brute force. Generating a session identifier (ID) that is not easily guessed through brute force is essential to deter several types of session attacks. By knowing the session ID, an attacker can hijack a user session that has already been user authenticated by the hosted application. The attacker does not need to...
V-206400 Medium The web server must generate unique session identifiers that cannot be reliably reproduced. Communication between a client and the web server is done using the HTTP protocol, but HTTP is a stateless protocol. In order to maintain a connection or session, a web server will generate a session identifier (ID) for each client session when the session is initiated. The session ID allows...
V-206398 Medium The web server must accept only system-generated session identifiers. Communication between a client and the web server is done using the HTTP protocol, but HTTP is a stateless protocol. In order to maintain a connection or session, a web server will generate a session identifier (ID) for each client session when the session is initiated. The session ID allows...
V-206397 Medium Cookies exchanged between the web server and client, such as session cookies, must have security settings that disallow cookie access outside the originating web server and hosted application. Cookies are used to exchange data between the web server and the client. Cookies, such as a session cookie, may contain session information and user credentials used to maintain a persistent connection between the user and the hosted application since HTTP/HTTPS is a stateless protocol. When the cookie parameters are...
V-206396 Medium The web server must invalidate session identifiers upon hosted application user logout or other session termination. Captured sessions can be reused in "replay" attacks. This requirement limits the ability of adversaries from capturing and continuing to employ previously valid session IDs. Session IDs are tokens generated by web applications to uniquely identify an application user's session. Unique session IDs help to reduce predictability of said identifiers....
V-206395 Medium The web server must separate the hosted applications from hosted web server management functionality. The separation of user functionality from web server management can be accomplished by moving management functions to a separate IP address or port. To further separate the management functions, separate authentication methods and certificates should be used. By moving the management functionality, the possibility of accidental discovery of the management...
V-206394 Medium Anonymous user access to the web server application directories must be prohibited. In order to properly monitor the changes to the web server and the hosted applications, logging must be enabled. Along with logging being enabled, each record must properly contain the changes made and the names of those who made the changes. Allowing anonymous users the capability to change the web...
V-206393 Medium Web server accounts accessing the directory tree, the shell, or other operating system functions and utilities must only be administrative accounts. As a rule, accounts on a web server are to be kept to a minimum. Only administrators, web managers, developers, auditors, and web authors require accounts on the machine hosting the web server. The resources to which these accounts have access must also be closely monitored and controlled. Only the...
V-206392 Medium A web server utilizing mobile code must meet DoD-defined mobile code requirements. Mobile code in hosted applications allows the developer to add functionality and displays to hosted applications that are fluid, as opposed to a static web page. The data presentation becomes more appealing to the user, is easier to analyze, and navigation through the hosted application and data is much less...
V-206391 Medium The web server must use cryptographic modules that meet the requirements of applicable federal laws, Executive Orders, directives, policies, regulations, standards, and guidance for such authentication. Encryption is only as good as the encryption modules utilized. Unapproved cryptographic module algorithms cannot be verified and cannot be relied upon to provide confidentiality or integrity, and DoD data may be compromised due to weak algorithms. FIPS 140-2 is the current standard for validating cryptographic modules and NSA Type-X...
V-206389 Medium Only authenticated system administrators or the designated PKI Sponsor for the web server must have access to the web servers private key. The web server's private key is used to prove the identity of the server to clients and securely exchange the shared secret key used to encrypt communications between the web server and clients. By gaining access to the private key, an attacker can pretend to be an authorized server and...
V-206388 Medium The web server must perform RFC 5280-compliant certification path validation. A certificate's certification path is the path from the end entity certificate to a trusted root certification authority (CA). Certification path validation is necessary for a relying party to make an informed decision regarding acceptance of an end entity certificate. Certification path validation includes checks such as certificate issuer trust,...
V-206387 Medium The web server must encrypt passwords during transmission. Data used to authenticate, especially passwords, needs to be protected at all times, and encryption is the standard method for protecting authentication data during transmission. Data used to authenticate can be passed to and from the web server for many reasons. Examples include data passed from a user to the...
V-206386 Medium The web server must be configured to use a specified IP address and port. The web server must be configured to listen on a specified IP address and port. Without specifying an IP address and port for the web server to utilize, the web server will listen on all IP addresses available to the hosting server. If the web server has multiple IP addresses,...
V-206385 Medium Users and scripts running on behalf of users must be contained to the document root or home directory tree of the web server. A web server is designed to deliver content and execute scripts or applications on the request of a client or user. Containing user requests to files in the directory tree of the hosted web application and limiting the execution of scripts and applications guarantees that the user is not accessing...
V-206384 Medium The web server must protect system resources and privileged operations from hosted applications. A web server may host one too many applications. Each application will need certain system resources and privileged operations to operate correctly. The web server must be configured to contain and control the applications and protect the system resources and privileged operations from those not needed by the application for...
V-206383 Medium The web server must have Web Distributed Authoring (WebDAV) disabled. A web server can be installed with functionality that, just by its nature, is not secure. Web Distributed Authoring (WebDAV) is an extension to the HTTP protocol that, when developed, was meant to allow users to create, change, and move documents on a server, typically a web server or web...
V-206382 Medium The web server must have resource mappings set to disable the serving of certain file types. Resource mapping is the process of tying a particular file type to a process in the web server that can serve that type of file to a requesting client and to identify which file types are not to be delivered to a client. By not specifying which files can and...
V-206381 Medium The web server must allow the mappings to unused and vulnerable scripts to be removed. Scripts allow server side processing on behalf of the hosted application user or as processes needed in the implementation of hosted applications. Removing scripts not needed for application operation or deemed vulnerable helps to secure the web server. To assure scripts are not added to the web server and run...
V-206380 Medium The web server must have Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) that invoke OS shell programs disabled. Controlling what a user of a hosted application can access is part of the security posture of the web server. Any time a user can access more functionality than is needed for the operation of the hosted application poses a security issue. A user with too much access can view...
V-206379 Medium The web server must provide install options to exclude installation of utility programs, services, plug-ins, and modules not necessary for operation. Just as running unneeded services and protocols is a danger to the web server at the lower levels of the OSI model, running unneeded utilities and programs is also a danger at the application layer of the OSI model. Office suites, development tools, and graphical editors are examples of such...
V-206378 Medium Web server accounts not utilized by installed features (i.e., tools, utilities, specific services, etc.) must not be created and must be deleted when the web server feature is uninstalled. When accounts used for web server features such as documentation, sample code, example applications, tutorials, utilities, and services are created even though the feature is not installed, they become an exploitable threat to a web server. These accounts become inactive, are not monitored through regular use, and passwords for the...
V-206377 Medium The web server must provide install options to exclude the installation of documentation, sample code, example applications, and tutorials. Web server documentation, sample code, example applications, and tutorials may be an exploitable threat to a web server because this type of code has not been evaluated and approved. A production web server must only contain components that are operationally necessary (e.g., compiled code, scripts, web-content, etc.). Any documentation, sample...
V-206376 Medium The web server must not be a proxy server. A web server should be primarily a web server or a proxy server but not both, for the same reasons that other multi-use servers are not recommended. Scanning for web servers that will also proxy requests into an otherwise protected network is a very common attack making the attack anonymous.
V-206375 Medium The web server must only contain services and functions necessary for operation. A web server can provide many features, services, and processes. Some of these may be deemed unnecessary or too unsecure to run on a production DoD system. The web server must provide the capability to disable, uninstall, or deactivate functionality and services that are deemed to be non-essential to the...
V-206374 Medium The web server must not perform user management for hosted applications. User management and authentication can be an essential part of any application hosted by the web server. Along with authenticating users, the user management function must perform several other tasks like password complexity, locking users after a configurable number of failed logins, and management of temporary and emergency accounts; and...
V-206373 Medium Expansion modules must be fully reviewed, tested, and signed before they can exist on a production web server. In the case of a production web server, areas for content development and testing will not exist, as this type of content is only permissible on a development website. The process of developing on a functional production website entails a degree of trial and error and repeated testing. This process...
V-206372 Medium All web server files must be verified for their integrity (e.g., checksums and hashes) before becoming part of the production web server. Being able to verify that a patch, upgrade, certificate, etc., being added to the web server is unchanged from the producer of the file is essential for file validation and nonrepudiation of the information. The web server or hosting system must have a mechanism to verify that files, before installation,...
V-206371 Medium The log data and records from the web server must be backed up onto a different system or media. Protection of log data includes assuring log data is not accidentally lost or deleted. Backing up log records to an unrelated system or onto separate media than the system the web server is actually running on helps to assure that, in the event of a catastrophic system failure, the log...
V-206370 Medium The log information from the web server must be protected from unauthorized deletion. Log data is essential in the investigation of events. The accuracy of the information is always pertinent. Information that is not accurate does not help in the revealing of potential security risks and may hinder the early discovery of a system compromise. One of the first steps an attacker will...
V-206369 Medium The log information from the web server must be protected from unauthorized modification. Log data is essential in the investigation of events. The accuracy of the information is always pertinent. Information that is not accurate does not help in the revealing of potential security risks and may hinder the early discovery of a system compromise. One of the first steps an attacker will...
V-206368 Medium Web server log files must only be accessible by privileged users. Log data is essential in the investigation of events. If log data were to become compromised, then 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 log records provides information an attacker could...
V-206367 Medium The web server must use the internal system clock to generate time stamps for log records. Without an internal clock used as the reference for the time stored on each event to provide a trusted common reference for the time, forensic analysis would be impeded. Determining the correct time a particular event occurred on the web server is critical when conducting forensic analysis and investigating system...
V-206366 Medium The web server must use a logging mechanism that is configured to alert the ISSO and SA in the event of a processing failure. Reviewing log data allows an investigator to recreate the path of an attacker and to capture forensic data for later use. Log data is also essential to system administrators in their daily administrative duties on the hosted system or within the hosted applications. If the logging system begins to fail,...
V-206365 Medium The web server must produce log records containing sufficient information to establish the identity of any user/subject or process associated with an event. Web server logging capability is critical for accurate forensic analysis. Without sufficient and accurate information, a correct replay of the events cannot be determined. Determining user accounts, processes running on behalf of the user, and running process identifiers also enable a better understanding of the overall event. User tool identification...
V-206364 Medium The web server must produce log records that contain sufficient information to establish the outcome (success or failure) of events. Web server logging capability is critical for accurate forensic analysis. Without sufficient and accurate information, a correct replay of the events cannot be determined. Ascertaining the success or failure of an event is important during forensic analysis. Correctly determining the outcome will add information to the overall reconstruction of the...
V-206363 Medium A web server, behind a load balancer or proxy server, must produce log records containing the client IP information as the source and destination and not the load balancer or proxy IP information with each event. Web server logging capability is critical for accurate forensic analysis. Without sufficient and accurate information, a correct replay of the events cannot be determined. Ascertaining the correct source, e.g. source IP, of the events is important during forensic analysis. Correctly determining the source of events will add information to the...
V-206362 Medium The web server must produce log records containing sufficient information to establish the source of events. Web server logging capability is critical for accurate forensic analysis. Without sufficient and accurate information, a correct replay of the events cannot be determined. Ascertaining the correct source, e.g. source IP, of the events is important during forensic analysis. Correctly determining the source will add information to the overall reconstruction...
V-206361 Medium The web server must produce log records containing sufficient information to establish where within the web server the events occurred. Web server logging capability is critical for accurate forensic analysis. Without sufficient and accurate information, a correct replay of the events cannot be determined. Ascertaining the correct location or process within the web server where the events occurred is important during forensic analysis. Correctly determining the web service, plug-in, or...
V-206360 Medium The web server must produce log records containing sufficient information to establish when (date and time) events occurred. Web server logging capability is critical for accurate forensic analysis. Without sufficient and accurate information, a correct replay of the events cannot be determined. Ascertaining the correct order of the events that occurred is important during forensic analysis. Events that appear harmless by themselves might be flagged as a potential...
V-206359 Medium The web server must produce log records containing sufficient information to establish what type of events occurred. Web server logging capability is critical for accurate forensic analysis. Without sufficient and accurate information, a correct replay of the events cannot be determined. For web servers, events logging includes, but is not limited to, the detection of the following: • XSS attacks (detect in server, mproxy, and WAF types...
V-206357 Medium The web server must initiate session logging upon start up. An attacker can compromise a web server during the startup process. If logging is not initiated until all the web server processes are started, key information may be missed and not available during a forensic investigation. To assure all logable events are captured, the web server must begin logging once...
V-206356 Medium The web server must generate, at a minimum, log records for system startup and shutdown, system access, and system authentication events. Log records can be generated from various components within the web server (e.g., httpd, plug-ins to external backends, etc.). From a web server perspective, certain specific web server functionalities may be logged as well. The web server must allow the definition of what events are to be logged. As conditions...
V-206355 Medium The web server must enforce approved authorizations for logical access to hosted applications and resources in accordance with applicable access control policies. To control access to sensitive information and hosted applications by entities that have been issued certificates by DoD-approved PKIs, the web server must be properly configured to incorporate a means of authorization that does not simply rely on the possession of a valid certificate for access. Access decisions must include...
V-206354 Medium The web server must generate information to be used by external applications or entities to monitor and control remote access. Remote access to the web server is any access that communicates through an external, non-organization-controlled network. Remote access can be used to access hosted applications or to perform management functions. By providing remote access information to an external monitoring system, the organization can monitor for cyber attacks and monitor compliance...
V-206353 Medium The web server must use cryptography to protect the integrity of remote sessions. Data exchanged between the user and the web server can range from static display data to credentials used to log into the hosted application. Even when data appears to be static, the non-displayed logic in a web page may expose business logic or trusted system relationships. The integrity of all...
V-206352 Medium The web server must use encryption strength in accordance with the categorization of data hosted by the web server when remote connections are provided. The web server has several remote communications channels. Examples are user requests via http/https, communication to a backend database, or communication to authenticate users. The encryption used to communicate must match the data that is being retrieved or presented. Methods of communication are http for publicly displayed information, https to...
V-206351 Medium The web server must perform server-side session management. Session management is the practice of protecting the bulk of the user authorization and identity information. Storing of this data can occur on the client system or on the server. When the session information is stored on the client, the session ID, along with the user authorization and identity information,...
V-206350 Medium The web server must limit the number of allowed simultaneous session requests. Web server management includes the ability to control the number of users and user sessions that utilize a web server. Limiting the number of allowed users and sessions per user is helpful in limiting risks related to several types of Denial of Service attacks. Although there is some latitude concerning...
V-264361 Info The web server must restrict a consistent inbound source IP for the entire user session. Authenticity protection provides protection against man-in-the-middle attacks/session hijacking and the insertion of false information into sessions. Application communication sessions are protected utilizing transport encryption protocols, such as TLS. TLS provides web applications with a means to be able to authenticate user sessions and encrypt application traffic. Session authentication can be...