Information
When dealing with access restrictions pertaining to change control, it should be noted, any changes to the hardware, software, and/or firmware components of the information system and/or application can potentially have significant effects on the overall security of the system.
Only qualified and authorized individuals are allowed to obtain access to information system components for the purposes of initiating changes, upgrades, and modifications.
Access restrictions for change also include application software libraries.
Examples of access restrictions include: physical and logical access controls, workflow automation, media libraries, abstract layers (i.e., changes are implemented into a third-party interface rather than directly into the information system component), and change windows (i.e., changes occur only during specified times, making unauthorized changes outside the window easy to discover).
Multiple applications can provide a cumulative negative effect. A vulnerability and subsequent exploit of one application can lead to an exploit of other applications sharing the same security context. For example, an exploit of a web server process that leads to unauthorized administrative access to host system directories can most likely lead to a compromise of all applications hosted by the same system. Database software not installed using dedicated directories both threatens, and is threatened by, other hosted applications. Access controls defined for one application may, by default, provide access to other applications' database objects or directories. Any method that provides any level of separation of security context assists in the protection between applications.
NOTE: Nessus has not performed this check. Please review the benchmark to ensure target compliance.
Solution
Install SQL Server software using directories separate from the OS and other application software library directories.
Relocate any directories or reinstall other application software that currently shares the DBMS software library directory to separate directories.
Recommend dedicating a separate partition for the SQL software libraries.