If passwords are used for authentication, MongoDB must store only hashed, salted representations of passwords.
An XCCDF Rule
Description
<VulnDiscussion>The DoD standard for authentication is DoD-approved PKI certificates. Authentication based on User ID and Password may be used only when it is not possible to employ a PKI certificate, and requires AO approval. In such cases, database passwords stored in clear text, using reversible encryption, or using unsalted hashes would be vulnerable to unauthorized disclosure. Database passwords must always be in the form of one-way, salted hashes when stored internally or externally to MongoDB.</VulnDiscussion><FalsePositives></FalsePositives><FalseNegatives></FalseNegatives><Documentable>false</Documentable><Mitigations></Mitigations><SeverityOverrideGuidance></SeverityOverrideGuidance><PotentialImpacts></PotentialImpacts><ThirdPartyTools></ThirdPartyTools><MitigationControl></MitigationControl><Responsibility></Responsibility><IAControls></IAControls>
- ID
- SV-252159r879608_rule
- Severity
- High
- References
- Updated
Remediation - Manual Procedure
1. If authenticationMechanisms is not defined in the %MongoDB configuration file% (default location: /etc/mongod.conf), define one of more authenticationMechanisms, from the subset below:
SCRAM-SHA-1
SCRAM-SHA-256
MONGODB-X509
GSSAPI