Title

When invalid inputs are received, PostgreSQL must behave in a predictable and documented manner that reflects organizational and system objectives. (Cat II impact)

Discussion

A common vulnerability is unplanned behavior when invalid inputs are received. This requirement guards against adverse or unintended system behavior caused by invalid inputs, where information system responses to the invalid input may be disruptive or cause the system to fail into an unsafe state. The behavior will be derived from the organizational and system requirements and includes, but is not limited to, notification of the appropriate personnel, creating an audit record, and rejecting invalid input.

Check Content

Review system documentation to determine how input errors from application to PostgreSQL are to be handled in general and if any special handling is defined for specific circumstances. If it does not implement the documented behavior, this is a finding. As the database administrator (shown here as "postgres"), make a small SQL syntax error in psql by running the following: $ sudo su - postgres $ psql -c "CREAT TABLEincorrect_syntax(id INT)" ERROR: syntax error at or near "CREAT" Note: The following instructions use the PGVER and PGLOG environment variables. See supplementary content APPENDIX-H for instructions on configuring PGVER and APPENDIX-I for PGLOG. As the database administrator (shown here as "postgres"), verify the syntax error was logged (change the log file name and part to suit the circumstances): $ sudo su - postgres $ cat ~/${PGVER?}/data/${PGLOG?}/<latest log> 2016-03-30 16:18:10.772 EDT postgres postgres 5706bb87.90dERROR: syntax error at or near "CREAT" at character 1 2016-03-30 16:18:10.772 EDT postgres postgres 5706bb87.90dSTATEMENT: CREAT TABLE incorrect_syntax(id INT); If no matching log entry containing the 'ERROR: syntax error' is present, this is a finding.

Fix Text

Enable logging. To ensure that logging is enabled, review supplementary content APPENDIX-C for instructions on enabling logging. All errors and denials are logged if logging is enabled.

Additional Identifiers

Rule ID: SV-233544r879818_rule

Vulnerability ID: V-233544

Group Title: SRG-APP-000447-DB-000393

Expert Comments

CCIs tied to check.

Controls tied to check. These are derived from the CCIs shown above.