Title

The DBMS must maintain the authenticity of communications sessions by guarding against man-in-the-middle attacks that guess at Session ID values. (Cat II impact)

Discussion

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 or 140-3 approved random number generator. However, it is recognized that available 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.

Check Content

Review DBMS vendor documentation and system behavior (and if necessary, consult vendor representatives) to determine whether the DBMS can provide demonstrably effective protection against man-in-the-middle attacks that guess at session identifier values. If not, this is a finding. Review DBMS settings to determine whether protections against man-in-the-middle attacks that guess at session identifier values are enabled. If they are not, this is a finding.

Fix Text

Utilize a DBMS product that can provide demonstrably effective protection against man-in-the-middle attacks that guess at session identifier values. Configure DBMS settings to enable protections against man-in-the-middle attacks that guess at session identifier values.

Additional Identifiers

Rule ID: SV-206567r879639_rule

Vulnerability ID: V-206567

Group Title: SRG-APP-000224

Expert Comments

CCIs tied to check.

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