EP11-00-004500 - The EDB Postgres Advanced Server, when utilizing PKI-based authentication, must validate certificates by performing RFC 5280-compliant certification path validation.

Information

The DoD standard for authentication is DoD-approved PKI certificates.

A certificate's certification path is the path from the end entity certificate to a trusted root certification authority (CA). Certification path validation is necessary for a relying party to make an informed decision regarding acceptance of an end entity certificate. Certification path validation includes checks such as certificate issuer trust, time validity, and revocation status for each certificate in the certification path. Revocation status information for CA and subject certificates in a certification path is commonly provided via certificate revocation lists (CRLs) or online certificate status protocol (OCSP) responses.

Database Management Systems that do not validate certificates by performing RFC 5280-compliant certification path validation are in danger of accepting certificates that are invalid and/or counterfeit. This could allow unauthorized access to the database.

NOTE: Nessus has provided the target output to assist in reviewing the benchmark to ensure target compliance.

Solution

Open the '<postgresql data directory>\pg_hba.conf' in an editor.

Note that the default location for the pg_hba.conf file is in the postgresql data directory. The location of the pg_hba.conf file for a running postgres instance can be found using the following command run from a Windows command prompt:

psql -d <database name> -U <database superuser name> -c 'SHOW hba_file'

where, <database name> is any database in the EDB postgres instance and <database superuser name> is a database superuser. By default, a database named 'edb' and a superuser named 'enterprisedb' are installed with EDB Postgres Advanced Server (EPAS).

For any rows that have TYPE of 'hostssl', append 'clientcert=1' in the OPTIONS column at the end of the line.

See Also

https://dl.dod.cyber.mil/wp-content/uploads/stigs/zip/U_EDB_PGS_Advanced_Server_v11_Windows_V2R4_STIG.zip

Item Details

Category: IDENTIFICATION AND AUTHENTICATION

References: 800-53|IA-5(2)(a), CAT|II, CCI|CCI-000185, Rule-ID|SV-224169r961038_rule, STIG-ID|EP11-00-004500, STIG-Legacy|SV-109469, STIG-Legacy|V-100365, Vuln-ID|V-224169

Plugin: Windows

Control ID: 044336e442eb7bddd522c72ad71c9969e2ecc7387d5ba989e6f17c5e58271367