Title

The audit information produced by the EDB Postgres Advanced Server must be protected from unauthorized deletion. (Cat II impact)

Discussion

If audit data were to become compromised, then competent forensic analysis and discovery of the true source of potentially malicious system activity is impossible to achieve. To ensure the veracity of audit data, the information system and/or the application must protect audit information from unauthorized deletion. This requirement can be achieved through multiple methods which will depend upon system architecture and design. Some commonly employed methods include: ensuring log files enjoy the proper file system permissions utilizing file system protections; restricting access; and backing up log data to ensure log data is retained. Applications providing a user interface to audit data will leverage user permissions and roles identifying the user accessing the data and the corresponding rights the user enjoys in order make access decisions regarding the deletion of audit data. Audit information includes all information (e.g., audit records, audit settings, and audit reports) needed to successfully audit information system activity. Deletion of database audit data could mask the theft of, or the unauthorized modification of, sensitive data stored in the database.

Check Content

Verify User ownership, Group ownership, and permissions on the "edb_audit" directory: > ls -ld <path-to-data-directory>/edb_audit If the User owner is not "enterprisedb", this is a finding. If the Group owner is not "enterprisedb", this is a finding. If the directory is more permissive than 700, this is a finding. The default path for the edb_audit directory is /var/lib/edb/as<version>/data (PGDATA), but this will vary according to local circumstances.

Fix Text

Run these commands as the "root" user (or user with sudo privileges) from the EDB Postgres Advanced Server data (PGDATA) directory: > chown enterprisedb edb_audit > chgrp enterprisedb edb_audit > chmod 700 edb_audit The default path for the edb_audit directory is /var/lib/edb/as<version>/data (PGDATA), but this will vary according to local circumstances.

Additional Identifiers

Rule ID: SV-259230r938743_rule

Vulnerability ID: V-259230

Group Title: SRG-APP-000120-DB-000061

Expert Comments

CCIs tied to check.

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