Application Security and Development STIG Version Comparison

There are 10 differences between versions v5 r1 (Oct. 23, 2020) (the "left" version) and v5 r3 (July 26, 2023) (the "right" version).

Check APSC-DV-000420 was changed between these two versions. Green, underlined text was added, red, struck-out text was removed.

The regular view of the left check and right check may be easier to read.

Title

The application must automatically audit account enabling actions.

Check Content

Examine the application documentation or interview the application representative to identify how the application users are managed. Identify managed. Interview the application administrator and determine if the application is configured to utilize a centralized user management system such as Active Directory for user management or if the application manages user accounts within the application. If the application is configured to use an enterprise-based application user management capability that is STIG compliant, the requirement is not applicable. Identify the location of the audit logs and review the end of the logs. Access the user account management functionality and enable a test user account. Examine the log file again and determine if the account enable event was logged. The information logged should, at a minimum, include enough detail to determine which account was enabled and when. If the account enabling event information was not logged, this is a finding.

Discussion

When application accounts are enabled, user accessibility is affected. Accounts are utilized for identifying individual application users or for identifying the application processes themselves. In order to detect and respond to events affecting user accessibility and application processing, applications must audit account removal actions and, as required, notify the appropriate individuals, so they can investigate the event. Such a capability greatly reduces the risk that application accessibility will be negatively affected for extended periods of time and provides logging that can be used for forensic purposes. Application developers are encouraged to integrate their applications with enterprise-level authentication/access/audit mechanisms such as Syslog, Active Directory or LDAP.

Fix

Configure the application to write a log entry when a user account is enabled. At a minimum, ensure account name, date and time of the event are recorded.