Detections
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SQL4-00-011320 - Where SQL Server Audit is in use at the database level, SQL Server must allow only the ISSM (or individuals or roles appointed by the ISSM) to select which auditable events are to be audited at the database level.

Information

Without the capability to restrict which roles and individuals can select which events are audited, unauthorized personnel may be able to prevent or interfere with the auditing of critical events.

Suppression of auditing could permit an adversary to evade detection.

Misconfigured audits can degrade the system's performance by overwhelming the audit log. Misconfigured audits may also make it more difficult to establish, correlate, and investigate the events relating to an incident or identify those responsible for one.

Use of SQL Server Audit is recommended. All features of SQL Server Audit are available in the Enterprise and Developer editions of SQL Server 2014. It is not available at the database level in other editions. For this or legacy reasons, the instance may be using SQL Server Trace for auditing, which remains an acceptable solution for the time being. Note, however, that Microsoft intends to remove most aspects of Trace at some point after SQL Server 2016.

This version of the requirement deals with SQL Server Audit-based audit trails.

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

Solution

Create a database role specifically for audit maintainers, and give it permission to maintain audits, without granting it unnecessary permissions:
USE <database name>;
GO
CREATE ROLE DATABASE_AUDIT_MAINTAINERS;
GO
GRANT ALTER ANY DATABASE AUDIT TO DATABASE_AUDIT_MAINTAINERS;
GO
(The role name used here is an example; other names may be used.)

Use REVOKE and/or DENY and/or ALTER ROLE ... DROP MEMBER ... statements to remove the ALTER ANY DATABASE AUDIT permission from all users.

Then, for each authorized database user, run the statement:
ALTER ROLE DATABASE_AUDIT_MAINTAINERS ADD MEMBER <user name> ;
GO

Use REVOKE and/or DENY and/or ALTER SERVER ROLE ... DROP MEMBER ... statements to remove CONTROL DATABASE permission from logins that do not need it.

See Also

https://dl.dod.cyber.mil/wp-content/uploads/stigs/zip/U_MS_SQL_Server_2014_Y22M10_STIG.zip

Item Details

Category: AUDIT AND ACCOUNTABILITY

References: 800-53|AU-12b., CAT|II, CCI|CCI-000171, Rule-ID|SV-81851r2_rule, STIG-ID|SQL4-00-011320, Vuln-ID|V-67361

Plugin: MS_SQLDB

Control ID: e77f653846c0ccbe6a4e332755a09b5b1e943c66a1efabc3febe100373481036