Title

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

This check applies to X86 compatible platforms. 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. 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

Consult the hardware vendor's documentation to determine how to start the system and access the BIOS controls. 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-216217r603268_rule

Vulnerability ID: V-216217

Group Title: SRG-OS-000480

Expert Comments

CCIs tied to check.

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