Title

The Mainframe Product must enforce approved authorizations for system programmer access to sensitive information and system resources in accordance with applicable access control policies. (Cat II impact)

Discussion

To mitigate the risk of unauthorized access to sensitive information by entities that have been issued certificates by DoD-approved PKIs, all DoD systems (e.g., networks, web servers, and web portals) must be properly configured to incorporate access control methods that do not rely solely on the possession of a certificate for access. Successful authentication must not automatically give an entity access to an asset or security boundary. Authorization procedures and controls must be implemented to ensure each authenticated entity also has a validated and current authorization. Authorization is the process of determining whether an entity, once authenticated, is permitted to access a specific asset. Information systems use access control policies and enforcement mechanisms to implement this requirement. Access control policies include identity-based policies, role-based policies, and attribute-based policies. Access enforcement mechanisms include access control lists, access control matrices, and cryptography. These policies and mechanisms must be employed by the application to control access between users (or processes acting on behalf of users) and objects (e.g., devices, files, records, processes, programs, and domains) in the information system. This requirement is applicable to access control enforcement applications (e.g., authentication servers) and other applications that perform information and system access control functions.

Check Content

If an external security manager (ESM) is used, check the ESM rules and configuration. If there are no rules for these resources or the rules do not restrict system programmer access in accordance with applicable access control policies, this is a finding. If an ESM is not in use, examine installation and configuration settings. Verify that the Mainframe Product enforces system programmer access to information and system resources in accordance with applicable access control policies. If it does not, this is a finding.

Fix Text

Configure the Mainframe Product to enforce role and/or resource access in accordance with applicable access control policies. This can be accomplished using an ESM. Configure the ESM to restrict system programmer access according to applicable access control policies.

Additional Identifiers

Rule ID: SV-205453r960792_rule

Vulnerability ID: V-205453

Group Title: SRG-APP-000033

Expert Comments

CCIs tied to check.

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