Title

SharePoint must terminate user sessions upon user logoff, and when idle time limit is exceeded. (Cat I impact)

Discussion

This requirement focuses on communications protection at the application session, versus network packet level. Session IDs are tokens generated by web applications to uniquely identify an application user's session. Applications will make application decisions and execute business logic based on the session ID. Unique session identifiers or IDs are the opposite of sequentially generated session IDs that can be easily guessed by an attacker. Unique session IDs help to reduce predictability of said identifiers. Unique session IDs address man-in-the-middle attacks, including session hijacking or insertion of false information into a session. If the attacker is unable to identify or guess the session information related to pending application traffic, they will have more difficulty in hijacking the session or otherwise manipulating valid sessions. When a user logs off, or when any other session termination event occurs, the application must terminate the user session to minimize the potential for an attacker to hijack that particular user session.

Check Content

Review the SharePoint server configuration to ensure user sessions are terminated upon user logoff, and when idle time limit is exceeded. Navigate to Central Administration website. Click "Application Management". Click "Manage Web Applications". Repeat the following steps for each web application: -Select the web application. -Click "General Settings" in the "Web Application" ribbon. -In the "Web Page Security Validation" section, verify that "Security Validation is:" is set to "On" and that the "Security Validation Expires:" setting is set to 15 minutes. Otherwise, this is a finding.

Fix Text

Configure the SharePoint server to terminate user sessions upon user logoff, and when idle time limit is exceeded. Navigate to Central Administration website. Click "Application Management". Click "Manage Web Applications". Repeat the following steps for each web application: -Select the web application. -Click "General Settings" in the "Web Application" ribbon. -In the "Web Page Security Validation" section, set "Security Validation:" to "On" and that the "Security Validation Expires:" setting is set to 15 minutes.

Additional Identifiers

Rule ID: SV-74407r1_rule

Vulnerability ID: V-59977

Group Title: SRG-APP-000220

Expert Comments

CCIs tied to check.

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