MS SQL Server 2016 Instance Security Technical Implementation Guide
Rules, Groups, and Values defined within the XCCDF Benchmark
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SQL Server must protect against a user falsely repudiating by ensuring only clearly unique Active Directory user accounts can connect to the instance.
Non-repudiation of actions taken is required in order to maintain data integrity. Examples of particular actions taken by individuals include creating information, sending a message, approving info...Rule Medium Severity -
SQL Server must be configured to generate audit records for DoD-defined auditable events within all DBMS/database components.
Without the capability to generate audit records, it would be difficult to establish, correlate, and investigate the events relating to an incident or identify those responsible for one. Audit ...Rule Medium Severity -
SQL Server must generate audit records when successful/unsuccessful attempts to retrieve privileges/permissions occur.
Under some circumstances, it may be useful to monitor who/what is reading privilege/permission/role information. Therefore, monitoring must be possible. DBMSs typically make such information availa...Rule Medium Severity -
SQL Server must by default shut down upon audit failure, to include the unavailability of space for more audit log records; or must be configurable to shut down upon audit failure.
It is critical that when SQL Server is at risk of failing to process audit logs as required, it takes action to mitigate the failure. Audit processing failures include: software/hardware errors; fa...Rule Medium Severity -
The audit information produced by SQL Server must be protected from unauthorized access, modification, and deletion.
If audit data were to become compromised, then competent forensic analysis and discovery of the true source of potentially malicious system activity is difficult, if not impossible, to achieve. In ...Rule Medium Severity -
SQL Server must protect its audit configuration from authorized and unauthorized access and modification.
Protecting audit data also includes identifying and protecting the tools used to view and manipulate log data. Therefore, protecting audit tools is necessary to prevent unauthorized operation on au...Rule Medium Severity -
Database software, including DBMS configuration files, must be stored in dedicated directories, separate from the host OS and other applications.
When dealing with change control issues, it should be noted any changes to the hardware, software, and/or firmware components of the information system and/or application can potentially have signi...Rule Medium Severity -
Default demonstration and sample databases, database objects, and applications must be removed.
Information systems are capable of providing a wide variety of functions and services. Some of the functions and services, provided by default, may not be necessary to support essential organizatio...Rule Medium Severity -
Unused database components that are integrated in SQL Server and cannot be uninstalled must be disabled.
Information systems are capable of providing a wide variety of functions and services. Some of the functions and services, provided by default, may not be necessary to support essential organizatio...Rule Medium Severity -
Access to xp_cmdshell must be disabled, unless specifically required and approved.
Information systems are capable of providing a wide variety of functions and services. Some of the functions and services, provided by default, may not be necessary to support essential organizatio...Rule Medium Severity -
Access to linked servers must be disabled or restricted, unless specifically required and approved.
Information systems are capable of providing a wide variety of functions and services. Some of the functions and services, provided by default, may not be necessary to support essential organizatio...Rule Medium Severity -
SQL Server must be configured to prohibit or restrict the use of organization-defined protocols as defined in the PPSM CAL and vulnerability assessments.
In order to prevent unauthorized connection of devices, unauthorized transfer of information, or unauthorized tunneling (i.e., embedding of data types within data types), organizations must disable...Rule Medium Severity -
SQL Server must uniquely identify and authenticate organizational users (or processes acting on behalf of organizational users).
To assure accountability and prevent unauthenticated access, organizational users must be identified and authenticated to prevent potential misuse and compromise of the system. Organizational u...Rule Medium Severity -
Confidentiality of information during transmission is controlled through the use of an approved TLS version.
Transport Layer Security (TLS) encryption is a required security setting as a number of known vulnerabilities have been reported against Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and earlier versions of TLS. Encr...Rule High Severity -
SQL Server must enforce authorized access to all PKI private keys stored/utilized by SQL Server.
The DoD standard for authentication is DoD-approved PKI certificates. PKI certificate-based authentication is performed by requiring the certificate holder to cryptographically prove possession of ...Rule High Severity -
SQL Server must uniquely identify and authenticate non-organizational users (or processes acting on behalf of non-organizational users).
Non-organizational users include all information system users other than organizational users, which include organizational employees or individuals the organization deems to have equivalent status...Rule Medium Severity -
SQL Server must maintain the authenticity of communications sessions by guarding against man-in-the-middle attacks that guess at Session ID values.
One class of man-in-the-middle, or session hijacking, attack involves the adversary guessing at valid session identifiers based on patterns in identifiers already known. The preferred technique ...Rule Medium Severity -
SQL Server must protect the confidentiality and integrity of all information at rest.
This control is intended to address the confidentiality and integrity of information at rest in non-mobile devices and covers user information and system information. Information at rest refers to ...Rule High Severity -
The Service Master Key must be backed up and stored in a secure location that is not on the SQL Server.
Backup and recovery of the Service Master Key may be critical to the complete recovery of the database. Creating this backup should be one of the first administrative actions performed on the serve...Rule Medium Severity -
SQL Server must prevent unauthorized and unintended information transfer via shared system resources.
The purpose of this control is to prevent information, including encrypted representations of information, produced by the actions of a prior user/role (or the actions of a process acting on behalf...Rule Medium Severity -
SQL Server must prevent unauthorized and unintended information transfer via Instant File Initialization (IFI).
The purpose of this control is to prevent information, including encrypted representations of information, produced by the actions of a prior user/role (or the actions of a process acting on behalf...Rule Medium Severity -
Access to database files must be limited to relevant processes and to authorized, administrative users.
SQL Server must prevent unauthorized and unintended information transfer via shared system resources. Permitting only SQL Server processes and authorized, administrative users to have access to the...Rule Medium Severity -
SQL Server must reveal detailed error messages only to documented and approved individuals or roles.
If SQL Server provides too much information in error logs and administrative messages to the screen, this could lead to compromise. The structure and content of error messages need to be carefully ...Rule Medium Severity -
SQL Server must prevent non-privileged users from executing privileged functions, to include disabling, circumventing, or altering implemented security safeguards/countermeasures.
Preventing non-privileged users from executing privileged functions mitigates the risk that unauthorized individuals or processes may gain unnecessary access to information or privileges. Syste...Rule Medium Severity -
Use of credentials and proxies must be restricted to necessary cases only.
In certain situations, to provide required functionality, a DBMS needs to execute internal logic (stored procedures, functions, triggers, etc.) and/or external code modules with elevated privileges...Rule Medium Severity -
SQL Server must provide a warning to appropriate support staff when allocated audit record storage volume reaches 75% of maximum audit record storage capacity.
Organizations are required to use a central log management system, so, under normal conditions, the audit space allocated to SQL Server on its own server will not be an issue. However, space will s...Rule Medium Severity -
SQL Server must enforce access restrictions associated with changes to the configuration of the instance.
Failure to provide logical access restrictions associated with changes to configuration may have significant effects on the overall security of the system. When dealing with access restrictions...Rule Medium Severity -
Windows must enforce access restrictions associated with changes to the configuration of the SQL Server instance.
Failure to provide logical access restrictions associated with changes to configuration may have significant effects on the overall security of the system. When dealing with access restrictions...Rule Medium Severity -
SQL Server must produce audit records of its enforcement of access restrictions associated with changes to the configuration of SQL Server or database(s).
Without auditing the enforcement of access restrictions against changes to configuration, it would be difficult to identify attempted attacks and an audit trail would not be available for forensic ...Rule Medium Severity -
SQL Server must disable network functions, ports, protocols, and services deemed by the organization to be nonsecure, in accord with the Ports, Protocols, and Services Management (PPSM) guidance.
Use of nonsecure network functions, ports, protocols, and services exposes the system to avoidable threats.Rule Medium Severity -
SQL Server must maintain a separate execution domain for each executing process.
Database management systems can maintain separate execution domains for each executing process by assigning each process a separate address space. Each process has a distinct address space so t...Rule Medium Severity -
When updates are applied to SQL Server software, any software components that have been replaced or made unnecessary must be removed.
Previous versions of DBMS components that are not removed from the information system after updates have been installed may be exploited by adversaries. Some DBMSs' installation tools may remov...Rule Medium Severity -
Security-relevant software updates to SQL Server must be installed within the time period directed by an authoritative source (e.g. IAVM, CTOs, DTMs, and STIGs).
Security flaws with software applications, including database management systems, are discovered daily. Vendors are constantly updating and patching their products to address newly discovered secur...Rule Medium Severity -
SQL Server must be able to generate audit records when successful and unsuccessful attempts to access security objects occur.
Changes to the security configuration must be tracked. This requirement applies to situations where security data is retrieved or modified via data manipulation operations, as opposed to via spec...Rule Medium Severity -
SQL Server must generate audit records when successful and unsuccessful attempts to add privileges/permissions occur.
Changes in the permissions, privileges, and roles granted to users and roles must be tracked. Without an audit trail, unauthorized elevation or restriction of privileges could go undetected. Elevat...Rule Medium Severity -
SQL Server must generate audit records when successful and unsuccessful attempts to modify privileges/permissions occur.
Changes in the permissions, privileges, and roles granted to users and roles must be tracked. Without an audit trail, unauthorized elevation or restriction of privileges could go undetected. Elevat...Rule Medium Severity -
SQL Server must generate audit records when successful and unsuccessful attempts to delete privileges/permissions occur.
Changes in the permissions, privileges, and roles granted to users and roles must be tracked. Without an audit trail, unauthorized elevation or restriction of privileges could go undetected. Elevat...Rule Medium Severity -
SQL Server must generate audit records when successful and unsuccessful attempts to delete categorized information (e.g., classification levels/security levels) occur.
Changes in categorized information must be tracked. Without an audit trail, unauthorized access to protected data could go undetected. To aid in diagnosis, it is necessary to keep track of faile...Rule Medium Severity -
SQL Server must generate audit records for all privileged activities or other system-level access.
Without tracking privileged activity, it would be difficult to establish, correlate, and investigate the events relating to an incident or identify those responsible for one. System documentati...Rule Medium Severity -
SQL Server must generate audit records when unsuccessful attempts to execute privileged activities or other system-level access occur.
Without tracking privileged activity, it would be difficult to establish, correlate, and investigate the events relating to an incident or identify those responsible for one. System documentati...Rule Medium Severity -
SQL Server must generate audit records for all direct access to the database(s).
In this context, direct access is any query, command, or call to SQL Server that comes from any source other than the application(s) that it supports. Examples would be the command line or a databa...Rule Medium Severity -
SQL Server must implement NIST FIPS 140-2 or 140-3 validated cryptographic modules to provision digital signatures.
Use of weak or untested encryption algorithms undermines the purposes of utilizing encryption to protect data. The application must implement cryptographic modules adhering to the higher standards ...Rule High Severity -
The SQL Server default account [sa] must be disabled.
SQL Server's [sa] account has special privileges required to administer the database. The [sa] account is a well-known SQL Server account and is likely to be targeted by attackers and thus more pro...Rule High Severity -
SQL Server default account [sa] must have its name changed.
SQL Server's [sa] account has special privileges required to administer the database. The [sa] account is a well-known SQL Server account name and is likely to be targeted by attackers, and is thus...Rule Medium Severity -
SQL Server Mirroring endpoint must utilize AES encryption.
Information can be either unintentionally or maliciously disclosed or modified during preparation for transmission, including, for example, during aggregation, at protocol transformation points, an...Rule Medium Severity -
SQL Server execute permissions to access the registry must be revoked, unless specifically required and approved.
Information systems are capable of providing a wide variety of functions and services. Some of the functions and services, provided by default, may not be necessary to support essential organizatio...Rule Medium Severity -
Ole Automation Procedures feature must be disabled, unless specifically required and approved.
Information systems are capable of providing a wide variety of functions and services. Some of the functions and services, provided by default, may not be necessary to support essential organizatio...Rule Medium Severity -
Remote Access feature must be disabled, unless specifically required and approved.
Information systems are capable of providing a wide variety of functions and services. Some of the functions and services, provided by default, may not be necessary to support essential organizatio...Rule Medium Severity -
Remote Data Archive feature must be disabled, unless specifically required and approved.
Information systems are capable of providing a wide variety of functions and services. Some of the functions and services, provided by default, may not be necessary to support essential organizatio...Rule Medium Severity -
The SQL Server Browser service must be disabled unless specifically required and approved.
The SQL Server Browser simplifies the administration of SQL Server, particularly when multiple instances of SQL Server coexist on the same computer. It avoids the need to hard-assign port numbers t...Rule Low Severity
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