MD4X-00-005600 - MongoDB must require users to reauthenticate when organization-defined circumstances or situations require reauthentication.

Information

The DoD standard for authentication of an interactive user is the presentation of a Common Access Card (CAC) or other physical token bearing a valid, current, DoD-issued Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) certificate, coupled with a Personal Identification Number (PIN) to be entered by the user at the beginning of each session and whenever reauthentication is required.

Without reauthentication, users may access resources or perform tasks for which they do not have authorization.

When applications provide the capability to change security roles or escalate the functional capability of the application, it is critical the user reauthenticate.

In addition to the reauthentication requirements associated with session locks, organizations may require reauthentication of individuals and/or devices in other situations, including (but not limited to) the following circumstances:

(i) When authenticators change;
(ii) When roles change;
(iii) When security categories of information systems change;
(iv) When the execution of privileged functions occurs;
(v) After a fixed period of time; or
(vi) Periodically.

Within the DoD, the minimum circumstances requiring reauthentication are privilege escalation and role changes.

NOTE: Nessus has not performed this check. Please review the benchmark to ensure target compliance.

Solution

Determine the organization-defined circumstances or situations that require reauthentication and ensure that the mongod and mongos processes are stopped/started (restart), and ensure that the mongod configuration file has security.authentication: true set.

In the case of database- and collection-level scoped user privileges, see MongoDB documentation for guidance on application specific configuration for user privileges in order to restrict access as required:

https://docs.mongodb.com/v4.4/tutorial/manage-users-and-roles/#create-a-role-to-manage-current-operations

https://docs.mongodb.com/v4.4/core/collection-level-access-control/#privileges-and-scope

See Also

https://dl.dod.cyber.mil/wp-content/uploads/stigs/zip/U_MDB_Enterprise_Advanced_4-x_V1R4_STIG.zip

Item Details

Category: IDENTIFICATION AND AUTHENTICATION

References: 800-53|IA-11, CAT|II, CCI|CCI-002038, Rule-ID|SV-252176r987687_rule, STIG-ID|MD4X-00-005600, Vuln-ID|V-252176

Plugin: Unix

Control ID: 0f4cd331707b731cff13dfa389b55f3766dffff14d27267939f2d1488c0286db