PGS9-00-004200 - The audit information produced by PostgreSQL must be protected from unauthorized read access - log directory

Information

If audit data were to become compromised, then competent forensic analysis and discovery of the true source of potentially malicious system activity is difficult, if not impossible, to achieve. In addition, access to audit records provides information an attacker could potentially use to his or her advantage.

To ensure the veracity of audit data, the information system and/or the application must protect audit information from any and all unauthorized access. This includes read, write, copy, etc.

This requirement can be achieved through multiple methods which will depend upon system architecture and design. Some commonly employed methods include ensuring log files enjoy the proper file system permissions utilizing file system protections and limiting log data location.

Additionally, applications with user interfaces to audit records should not allow for the unfettered manipulation of or access to those records via the application. If the application provides access to the audit data, the application becomes accountable for ensuring that audit information is protected from unauthorized access.

Audit information includes all information (e.g., audit records, audit settings, and audit reports) needed to successfully audit information system activity.

Solution

Note: The following instructions use the PGDATA and PGVER environment variables. See supplementary content APPENDIX-F for instructions on configuring PGDATA and APPENDIX-H for PGVER.

To ensure that logging is enabled, review supplementary content APPENDIX-C for instructions on enabling logging.

#### syslog Logging

If PostgreSQL is configured to use syslog for logging, consult organization location and permissions for syslog log files.

#### stderr Logging

If PostgreSQL is configured to use stderr for logging, permissions of the log files can be set in postgresql.conf.

As the database administrator (shown here as 'postgres'), edit the following settings of logs in the postgresql.conf file:

Note: Consult the organization's documentation on acceptable log privileges.

$ sudo su - postgres
$ vi ${PGDATA?}/postgresql.conf
log_file_mode = 0600

Next, as the system administrator, reload the server with the new configuration:

# SYSTEMD SERVER ONLY
$ sudo systemctl reload postgresql-${PGVER?}

# INITD SERVER ONLY
$ sudo service postgresql-${PGVER?} reload

Item Details

Audit Name: DISA STIG PostgreSQL 9.x on RHEL OS v2r5

Category: AUDIT AND ACCOUNTABILITY

Plugin: Unix

Control ID: 8a772956381d59ed5e497c0eb8c99336154713539f228f40dd2b0abc9847a207

Detections

Analytics

PGS9-00-004200 - The audit information produced by PostgreSQL must be protected from unauthorized read access - log directory

Information

Solution

See Also

Item Details