Title

The Google Search Appliance must notify appropriate individuals when accounts are created. (Cat II impact)

Discussion

Once an attacker establishes initial access to a system, they often attempt to create a persistent method of re-establishing access. One way to accomplish this is for the attacker to simply create a new account. Notification of account creation is one method and best practice for mitigating this risk. A comprehensive account management process will ensure that an audit trail which documents the creation of application user accounts and notifies administrators and/or application owners exists. Such a process greatly reduces the risk that accounts will be surreptitiously created and provides logging that can be used for forensic purposes. To address the multitude of policy based access requirements, many application developers choose to integrate their applications with enterprise level authentication/access mechanisms that meet or exceed access control policy requirements. Such integration allows the application developer to off-load those access control functions and focus on core application features and functionality. Examples of enterprise level authentication/access mechanisms include but are not limited to Active Directory and LDAP. Applications must support the requirement to notify appropriate individuals upon account creation.

Check Content

Open the GSA Web Admin Console at https:<your GSA IP or hostname>:8443. Login to the GSA management interface. Navigate to "Administration", select "System Settings". If "Enable Daily Status Email Messages" is checked and a valid administrator email address is entered, this is not a finding.

Fix Text

Open the GSA Web Admin Console at https:<your GSA IP or hostname>:8443. Login to the GSA management interface. Navigate to "Administration", select "System Settings". Select "Enable Daily Status Email Messages" and enter a valid administrator email address.

Additional Identifiers

Rule ID: SV-75249r1_rule

Vulnerability ID: V-60797

Group Title: SRG-APP-000291

Expert Comments

CCIs tied to check.

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