LJK/Security Reference Manual


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REBLDSYS

Determine whether the system disk will be rebuilt after a system crash.

Violation reports

Constraint Nature of the violation
PROHIBITED System parameter ACP_REBLDSYSD is 1 in violation of policy
REQUIRED System parameter ACP_REBLDSYSD is 0 in violation of policy

Description

Free space bit maps on various disks may be incorrect after a system crash. For most disks, this is corrected by the (default) MOUNT/REBUILD qualifier. For the system disk, however, rebuilding is controlled by the system parameter ACP_REBLDSYSD.
Default policy Rebuilding is required. Customizing To ensure that system disks are rebuilt, you should set REQUIRED to TRUE. Setting PROHIBITED to TRUE will allow faster reboots. Setting both limits to FALSE will allow local discretion. selector

Limits

Constraint Value Default
PROHIBITED FALSE or TRUE FALSE
REQUIRED FALSE or TRUE TRUE

Exemptions

Constraint Value Parameters
PROHIBITED FALSE or TRUE <node>
REQUIRED FALSE or TRUE <node>
Practical considerations Rebuilding the system disk can be time-consuming, denying service to some extent, depending on local standards.

Generally, the worst outcome of failing to rebuild the system disk (or any other disk, in fact) is just the unavailability of some free space on the disk. This is due to the "careful write" methods of the VMS file system. If denial of service time is more onerous than denial of disk space at your site, you might prefer to set PROHIBITED to TRUE and REQUIRED to FALSE.


REMEDIATE

Specify times required and name responsible parties for inclusion in remediation planning.

Violation reports

Constraint Nature of the violation
CHANGES The number of days required to implement an application change
CONFIGURE The number of days required to implement a parameter change
INITIALIZE The number of days required to propagate assessment results
MANAGEACC The name or title of the individual or group managing accounts (usernames)
MANAGEAPP The name or title of the individual or group managing applications
MANAGEASS The name or title of the individual or group managing security assessments
MANAGEAUD The name or title of the individual or group managing auditing
MANAGENET The name or title of the individual or group managing network security
MANAGESYS The name or title of the individual or group managing the system
MAXIMUM The number of days it takes for all applications to be exercised at least once
MEDIAN The number of days it takes for half of the applications to be exercised at least once
MINIMUM The number of days it takes for half the applications to be exercised at least once
REPORTNAM The name or title of the individual or group managing the system
SYSTEMNAM The name or title of the individual or group managing the system

Description

The constraints within this element are not really tests, but provide organization latency and naming information used to generate remediation plans.
Default policy Most applications run every month.

All applications run every year.

It takes 7 days to propagate violation reports.

It takes 90 days to change an application. Customizing Change these constraints freely to match reality within your organization. selector

Limits

Constraint Value Default
CHANGES number of days 90
CONFIGURE number of days 7
INITIALIZE number of days 7
MANAGEACC text string "Account Manager"
MANAGEAPP text string "Application Manager"
MANAGEASS text string "Assessment Manager"
MANAGEAUD text string "Audit Manager"
MANAGENET text string "Network Manager"
MANAGESYS text string "System Manager"
MAXIMUM number of days 366
MEDIAN number of days 31
MINIMUM number of days 31
REPORTNAM text string "Remediation Plan"
SYSTEMNAM text string assessment-name

Exemptions

Constraint Value Parameters
CHANGES number of days <node>
CONFIGURE number of days <node>
INITIALIZE number of days <node>
MANAGEACC text string <node>
MANAGEAPP text string <node>
MANAGEASS text string <node>
MANAGEAUD text string <node>
MANAGENET text string <node>
MANAGESYS text string <node>
MAXIMUM number of days <node>
MEDIAN number of days <node>
MINIMUM number of days <node>
REPORTNAM text string <node>
SYSTEMNAM text string <node>
Practical considerations These tests do not really test any controls, they are used only to generate remediation schedules.

SAVEDUMP

Determine whether crash dumps written to a page file are preserved until they can be analyzed.

Violation reports

Constraint Nature of the violation
PROHIBITED System parameter SAVEDUMP is 1 in violation of policy
REQUIRED System parameter SAVEDUMP is 0 in violation of policy

Description

On systems that do not have a separate dump file, crash dumps will be written into the paging file. These tests check whether the crash information will be preserved until it is analyzed.

VMS SAVEDUMP element tests PROHIBITED and REQUIRED never report violations if a dump file is present on the tributary node (since the SAVEDUMP parameter only affects saving dumps in the page file, in the absence of a dump file).

Default policy The preserving crash dump information is required. Customizing If analysis of system failures is important at your site, set REQUIRED to TRUE. If system parameter DUMPBUG is 0, this test will be skipped. This test will also be skipped if a separate dump file exists. selector

Limits

Constraint Value Default
PROHIBITED FALSE or TRUE FALSE
REQUIRED FALSE or TRUE TRUE

Exemptions

Constraint Value Parameters
PROHIBITED FALSE or TRUE <node>
REQUIRED FALSE or TRUE <node>
Practical considerations Analysis of each crash dump can help you to track down the cause of the crash and suggest ways of avoiding future crashes. A dump takes up disk space, so it is desirable to analyze each crash quickly and release the space that it used. Unless analysis is timely (or unless page file space is plentiful), preserving a crash dump can be a threat to continuity of service.

This puts a security manager in a bind between system availability requirements and disk space requirements. Therefore, if no one in your organization is prepared to do timely crash dump analysis, requiring this might be a futile effort.


SECPOLICY

Ensure bit settings in system parameter SECURITY_POLICY conform to policy.

Violation reports

Constraint Nature of the violation
PROHIBITED allowed in violation of policy
REQUIRED prevented in violation of policy

Description

These bits in VMS V6.0 and beyond control overall system security, including whether deviations from C2 evaluated components is allowed.
Default policy DECwindows access is permitted to allow behavior which was allowed under prior versions of VMS, while other items are prohibited. Customizing These tests are primarily of interest to government sites which require running under evaluated software. selector Limits for this test can take a selector indicating a security policy bit:

Table 6-1 Selectors for Security Policy Bits
Selector Name VMS Security Policy Bit Meaning
DPS ALLOW_DISPLAY_POSTSCRIPT allow display postscript extensions
MULTIDECW ALLOW_MULTIPLE_DECW_USERS allow multiple username to connect to DECW$SERVER
TRANSPORTS ALLOW_ALTERNATE_TRANSPORTS allow unevaluated transports
CROSSJOB ALLOW_SPAN_JOB_TREES allow $SIGPRC to span job trees
LOCPROFILE LOCAL_UPDATE allow local profile changes
LOCOBJECT LOCAL_PROFILE allow local object creation
CAPTIVESPAWN ALLOW_CAPTIVE_SPAWN allow SPAWN or LIB$SPAWN in CAPTIVE accounts
COMPRESSMAC COMPRESS_MAC_STRINGS compress MAC category strings (SEVMS)
UPPERCASEINPUT UPPERCASE_INPUT as prior to VMS V7.1
GUARDPASSWORDS GUARD_PASSWORDS ACMEs shall not share
DOIAUTHORIZATION DOI_AUTHORIZATION_ONLY prevent feature mixing
IGNOREEXTAUTH IGNORE_EXTAUTH ignore user-specific EXTAUTH and VMSAUTH restrictions
INTRUSIONSLOCAL INTRUSIONS_ARE_LOCAL consider local intrusions onlywhen set
USEPOSIXUIDGID USE_POSIX_UID_GID perform UID/GID lookup in tcpip proxy database

Limits

Constraint Value Default
PROHIBITED FALSE or TRUE TRUE*
REQUIRED FALSE or TRUE FALSE*

* except for DPS, MULTIDECW, TRANSPORTS and GUARDPASSWORDS selectors.

Exemptions

Constraint Value Parameters
PROHIBITED FALSE or TRUE <node>
REQUIRED FALSE or TRUE <node>
Practical considerations The CAPTIVESPAWN bit will be of the most interest to commercial sites.

SECONDARY

Ensure an appropriate percentage of usernames require secondary passwords.

Violation reports

Constraint Nature of the violation
PERCENTLO Fewer usernames require secondary passwords than permitted by policy
PERCENTHI More usernames require secondary passwords than permitted by policy

Description

These tests determine whether an appropriate percentage of usernames require secondary passwords.
Default policy There is no requirement for a particular percentage of usernames to require secondary passwords. Customizing These tests are primarily of interest to sites which have a need for secondary passwords unrelated to VMS privilege levels. When the need is related to VMS privilege levels, use the (UAF,PWDNULL,SECMAXPRIV) test. selector

Limits

Constraint Value Default
PERCENTLO 0-100 0
PERCENTHI 0-100 100

Exemptions

Constraint Value Parameters
PERCENTLO 0-100 <node>, <device-name>
PERCENTHI 0-100 <node>, <device-name>
Practical considerations The VMS secondary password mechanism is only effective if the primary and secondary passwords are held by different individuals, and that aspect of usage cannot be automatically verified.

SETTIME

Determine whether VMS will delay on boot for the time to be entered.

Violation reports

Constraint Nature of the violation
PROHIBITED System parameter SETTIME is 1 in violation of policy
REQUIRED System parameter SETTIME is 0 in violation of policy

Description

If system parameter SETTIME is 1, VMS will wait for the time to be entered on each boot.
Default policy Prompting on every boot is prohibited. Customizing LJK Software recommends that you leave the limits for these tests at their default value.

If you have particular systems which are supposed to have system parameter SETTIME set to 1, you can add exemptions for those nodes to the PROHIBITED constraint.

A more thorough approach in situations where some nodes must have the system parameter SETTIME set to 1 would be to set both the PROHIBITED and the REQUIRED limits to TRUE and then establish exemptions for all nodes. selector

Limits

Constraint Value Default
PROHIBITED FALSE or TRUE TRUE
REQUIRED FALSE or TRUE FALSE

Exemptions

Constraint Value Parameters
PROHIBITED FALSE or TRUE <node>
REQUIRED FALSE or TRUE <node>
Practical considerations Except for the MicroVAX I and the VAX 11/730, systems which run VMS have built-in time-of-year clocks. With such a clock, system parameter SETTIME should be 0, and the default values for these tests will be sufficient.

While waiting for time to be input on boot is a threat to continuity of service, running with the software clock incorrectly set can lead to improper operation of applications, also an undesirable condition.


STARTUP

See if the list of system startup modules conforms to policy.

Violation reports

Constraint Nature of the violation
MATCH Ordered list of Startup modules does not exactly match policy
MUSTHAVE Set of Startup modules does not include one required by policy
MUSTLACK Set of Startup modules includes one prohibited by policy
NOMORETHAN Set of Startup modules includes more than those permitted by policy
NOTJUST Set of Startup modules does not include any beyond set declared inadequate by by policy

Description

The tests within this element determine whether the list of system startup modules conforms to policy.
Default policy There are no requirements regarding startup modules. Customizing Modify these constraints for any required or forbidden startup modules being enabled via MCR SYSMAN STARTUP commands. selector

Limits

Constraint Value Default
MATCH 0-511 characters none
MUSTHAVE 0-510 characters none
MUSTLACK 0-510 characters none
NOMORETHAN 0-510 characters none
NOTJUST 0-510 characters none

Exemptions

Constraint Value Parameters
MATCH 0-511 characters <node>
MUSTHAVE 0-510 characters <node>
MUSTLACK 0-510 characters <node>
NOMORETHAN 0-510 characters <node>
NOTJUST 0-510 characters <node>
Practical considerations This element is useful for assessing multiple distinct nodes that are alleged to be configured the same.


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