PostgreSQL must protect against a user falsely repudiating having performed organization-defined actions.

An XCCDF Rule

Description

<VulnDiscussion>Nonrepudiation of actions taken is required to maintain data integrity. Examples of particular actions taken by individuals include creating information, sending a message, approving information (e.g., indicating concurrence or signing a contract), and receiving a message. Nonrepudiation protects against later claims by a user of not having created, modified, or deleted a particular data item or collection of data in the database. In designing a database, the organization must define the types of data and the user actions that must be protected from repudiation. The implementation must then include building audit features into the application data tables and configuring PostgreSQL audit tools to capture the necessary audit trail. Design and implementation must ensure that applications pass individual user identification to PostgreSQL, even where the application connects to PostgreSQL with a standard, shared account.</VulnDiscussion><FalsePositives></FalsePositives><FalseNegatives></FalseNegatives><Documentable>false</Documentable><Mitigations></Mitigations><SeverityOverrideGuidance></SeverityOverrideGuidance><PotentialImpacts></PotentialImpacts><ThirdPartyTools></ThirdPartyTools><MitigationControl></MitigationControl><Responsibility></Responsibility><IAControls></IAControls>

ID: SV-261860r1000977_rule
Severity: Medium
References: CCI-000166
Updated: 17 days ago

Note: The following instructions use the PGDATA and PGVER environment variables. Refer to APPENDIX-F for instructions on configuring PGDATA and APPENDIX-H for PGVER.

Configure the database to supply additional auditing information to protect against a user falsely repudiating having performed organization-defined actions. 

Using "pgaudit", PostgreSQL can be configured to audit these requests. Refer to supplementary content APPENDIX-B for documentation on installing pgaudit. 
To ensure logging is enabled, review supplementary content APPENDIX-C for instructions on enabling logging. 

Modify the configuration of audit logs to include details identifying the individual user: 

As the database administrator (shown here as "postgres"), edit postgresql.conf: 

$ sudo su - postgres 
$ vi ${PGDATA?}/postgresql.conf 

Extra parameters can be added to the setting log_line_prefix to identify the user: 

log_line_prefix = '< %m %a %u %d %r %p >' 

As the system administrator, reload the server with the new configuration: 

$ sudo systemctl reload postgresql-${PGVER?}

Use accounts assigned to individual users. Where the application connects to PostgreSQL using a standard, shared account, ensure it also captures the individual user identification and passes it to PostgreSQL.

PostgreSQL must protect against a user falsely repudiating having performed organization-defined actions.

Description

Remediation - Manual Procedure