Title

System BIOS or system controllers supporting password protection must have administrator accounts/passwords configured, and no others. (Cat II impact)

Discussion

A system's BIOS or system controller handles the initial startup of a system and its configuration must be protected from unauthorized modification. When the BIOS or system controller supports the creation of user accounts or passwords, such protections must be used and accounts/passwords only assigned to system administrators. Failure to protect BIOS or system controller settings could result in Denial of Service or compromise of the system resulting from unauthorized configuration changes.

Check Content

On systems with a BIOS or system controller, verify a supervisor or administrator password is set. If a password is not set, this is a finding. Attempt to log into the system controller first using the user/pwd format of Admin/Admin, then as Oper/Oper. Also, depending upon the MP/SP/GSP, it may also allow for simple carriage return entry <CR>/<CR> if account(s)/password(s) are uninitialized. If the BIOS or system controller supports user-level access in addition to supervisor/administrator access, determine if this access is enabled. If so, this is a finding.

Fix Text

Access the system's BIOS or system controller. Set a supervisor/administrator password if one has not been set. Disable a user-level password if one has been set.

Additional Identifiers

Rule ID: SV-38423r1_rule

Vulnerability ID: V-4246

Group Title: GEN008620

Expert Comments

CCIs tied to check.

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