{
  "name": "stig_f5_big-ip_device_management_11.x",
  "date": "2017-06-27",
  "description": "This Security Technical Implementation Guide is published as a tool to improve the security of Department of Defense (DoD) information systems. The requirements are derived from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) 800-53 and related documents. Comments or proposed revisions to this document should be sent via email to the following address: disa.stig_spt@mail.mil.",
  "title": "F5 BIG-IP Device Management 11.x Security Technical Implementation Guide",
  "version": "1",
  "item_syntax": "^\\w-\\d+$",
  "section_separator": null,
  "items": [
    {
      "id": "V-60091",
      "title": "The BIG-IP appliance must be configured to limit the number of concurrent sessions to one (1) for each administrator account and/or administrator account type.",
      "description": "Device management includes the ability to control the number of administrators and management sessions that manage a device. Limiting the number of allowed administrators and sessions per administrator is helpful in limiting risks related to DoS attacks.\n\nThis requirement addresses concurrent sessions for administrative accounts and does not address concurrent sessions by a single administrator via multiple administrative accounts. The maximum number of concurrent sessions should be defined based upon mission needs and the operational environment for each system.",
      "severity": "medium"
    },
    {
      "id": "V-60093",
      "title": "The BIG-IP appliance must be configured to initiate a session lock after a 10-minute period of inactivity.",
      "description": "A session lock is a temporary network device- or administrator-initiated action taken when the administrator stops work but does not log out of the network device. Rather than relying on the user to manually lock their management session prior to vacating the vicinity, network devices need to be able to identify when a management session has idled and take action to initiate the session lock. Once invoked, the session lock shall remain in place until the administrator re-authenticates. No other system activity aside from re-authentication shall unlock the management session.\n\nNote that CCI-001133 requires that administrative network sessions be disconnected after 10 minutes of idle time. So this requirement may only apply to local administrative sessions.",
      "severity": "medium"
    },
    {
      "id": "V-60095",
      "title": "The BIG-IP appliance must provide automated support for account management functions.",
      "description": "Account management functions include: assignment of group or role membership; identifying account type; specifying user access authorizations (i.e., privileges); account removal, update, or termination; and administrative alerts. The network device must be configured to automatically provide account management functions, and these functions must immediately enforce the organization's current account policy.\n\nAll accounts used for access to the network device are privileged or system-level accounts. Therefore, if account management functions are not automatically enforced, an attacker could gain privileged access to a vital element of the network security architecture.\n\nThis control does not include emergency administration accounts that provide access to the network device components in case of network failure. There must be only one such locally defined account.\n\nAll other accounts must be defined. All other accounts must be created and managed on the site's authentication server (e.g., RADIUS, LDAP, or Active Directory). This requirement is applicable to account management functions provided by the network device application. If the function is provided by the underlying OS or an authentication server, it must be secured using the applicable security guide or STIG.",
      "severity": "medium"
    },
    {
      "id": "V-60097",
      "title": "The BIG-IP appliance must automatically remove or disable temporary user accounts after 72 hours.",
      "description": "Temporary accounts are established as part of normal account activation procedures when there is a need for short-term accounts without the demand for immediacy in account activation. If temporary accounts remain active when no longer needed, they may be used to gain unauthorized access. The risk is greater for the network device since these accounts have elevated privileges. To mitigate this risk, automated termination of all temporary accounts must be set upon account creation.",
      "severity": "medium"
    },
    {
      "id": "V-60099",
      "title": "The BIG-IP appliance must automatically disable accounts after a 35-day period of account inactivity.",
      "description": "Since the accounts in the network device are privileged or system-level accounts, account management is vital to the security of the network device. Inactive accounts could be reactivated or compromised by unauthorized users, allowing exploitation of vulnerabilities and undetected access to the network device. \n\nThis control does not include emergency administration accounts, which are meant for access to the network device components in case of network failure.",
      "severity": "medium"
    },
    {
      "id": "V-60103",
      "title": "The BIG-IP appliance must automatically audit account creation.",
      "description": "Upon gaining access to a network device, an attacker will often first attempt to create a persistent method of reestablishing access. One way to accomplish this is to create a new account. Notification of account creation helps to mitigate this risk. Auditing account creation provides the necessary reconciliation that account management procedures are being followed. Without this audit trail, personnel without the proper authorization may gain access to critical network nodes.",
      "severity": "medium"
    },
    {
      "id": "V-60105",
      "title": "The BIG-IP appliance must automatically audit account modification.",
      "description": "Since the accounts in the network device are privileged or system-level accounts, account management is vital to the security of the network device. Account management by a designated authority ensures access to the network device is being controlled in a secure manner by granting access to only authorized personnel with the appropriate and necessary privileges. Auditing account modification along with an automatic notification to appropriate individuals will provide the necessary reconciliation that account management procedures are being followed. If modifications to management accounts are not audited, reconciliation of account management procedures cannot be tracked.",
      "severity": "medium"
    },
    {
      "id": "V-60107",
      "title": "The BIG-IP appliance must automatically audit account-disabling actions.",
      "description": "Account management, as a whole, ensures access to the network device is being controlled in a secure manner by granting access to only authorized personnel. Auditing account disabling actions will support account management procedures. When device management accounts are disabled, user or service accessibility may be affected. Auditing also ensures authorized active accounts remain enabled and available for use when required.",
      "severity": "medium"
    },
    {
      "id": "V-60109",
      "title": "The BIG-IP appliance must automatically audit account removal actions.",
      "description": "Account management, as a whole, ensures access to the network device is being controlled in a secure manner by granting access to only authorized personnel. Auditing account removal actions will support account management procedures. When device management accounts are terminated, user or service accessibility may be affected. Auditing also ensures authorized active accounts remain enabled and available for use when required.",
      "severity": "medium"
    },
    {
      "id": "V-60111",
      "title": "The BIG-IP appliance must be configured to enforce the assigned privilege level for each administrator and authorizations for access to all commands relative to the privilege level in accordance with applicable policy for the device.",
      "description": "To mitigate the risk of unauthorized access to sensitive information by entities that have been issued certificates by DoD-approved PKIs, all DoD systems must be properly configured to incorporate access control methods that do not rely solely on the possession of a certificate for access. Successful authentication must not automatically give an entity access to an asset or security boundary. Authorization procedures and controls must be implemented to ensure each authenticated entity also has a validated and current authorization. Authorization is the process of determining whether an entity, once authenticated, is permitted to access a specific asset. Network devices use access control policies and enforcement mechanisms to implement this requirement. \n\nAccess control policies include identity-based policies, role-based policies, and attribute-based policies. Access enforcement mechanisms include access control lists, access control matrices, and cryptography. These policies and mechanisms must be employed by the network device to control access between administrators (or processes acting on behalf of administrators) and objects (e.g., device commands, files, records, processes) in the network device.",
      "severity": "high"
    },
    {
      "id": "V-60113",
      "title": "The BIG-IP appliance must be configured to enforce the limit of three consecutive invalid logon attempts by a user during a 15-minute time period.",
      "description": "By limiting the number of failed logon attempts, the risk of unauthorized system access via user password guessing, otherwise known as brute-forcing, is reduced.",
      "severity": "medium"
    },
    {
      "id": "V-60115",
      "title": "Upon successful logon, the BIG-IP appliance must be configured to notify the administrator of the date and time of the last logon.",
      "description": "Administrators need to be aware of activity that occurs regarding their network device management account. Providing administrators with information regarding the date and time of their last successful logon allows them to determine if any unauthorized activity has occurred. This incorporates all methods of logon, including, but not limited to, SSH, HTTP, HTTPS, and physical connectivity.",
      "severity": "medium"
    },
    {
      "id": "V-60117",
      "title": "Upon successful logon, the BIG-IP appliance must be configured to notify the administrator of the number of unsuccessful logon attempts since the last successful logon.",
      "description": "Administrators need to be aware of activity that occurs regarding their network device management account. Providing administrators with information regarding the number of unsuccessful attempts made to logon to their account allows them to determine if any unauthorized activity has occurred. Without this information, the administrator may not be aware that unauthorized activity has occurred. This incorporates all methods of logon, including, but not limited to, SSH, HTTP, HTTPS, and physical connectivity.",
      "severity": "medium"
    },
    {
      "id": "V-60121",
      "title": "The BIG-IP appliance must be configured to protect against an individual (or process acting on behalf of an individual) falsely denying having performed system configuration changes.",
      "description": "This requirement supports non-repudiation of actions taken by an administrator and is required in order to maintain the integrity of the configuration management process. All configuration changes to the network device are logged, and administrators authenticate with two-factor authentication before gaining administrative access. Together, these processes will ensure the administrators can be held accountable for the configuration changes they implement.\n\nTo meet this requirement, the network device must log administrator access and activity.",
      "severity": "medium"
    },
    {
      "id": "V-60123",
      "title": "The BIG-IP appliance must be configured to alert the ISSO and SA (at a minimum) in the event of an audit processing failure.",
      "description": "It is critical for the appropriate personnel to be aware if a system is at risk of failing to process audit logs as required. Without this notification, the security personnel may be unaware of an impending failure of the audit capability, and system operation may be adversely affected. \n\nAudit processing failures include software/hardware errors, failures in the audit capturing mechanisms, and audit storage capacity being reached or exceeded.",
      "severity": "low"
    },
    {
      "id": "V-60125",
      "title": "The BIG-IP appliance must be configured to shut down by default upon audit failure (or restart when availability is an overriding concern).",
      "description": "It is critical that when the network device is at risk of failing to process audit logs as required, it take action to mitigate the failure. Audit processing failures include: software/hardware errors; failures in the audit capturing mechanisms; and audit storage capacity being reached or exceeded. Responses to audit failure depend upon the nature of the failure mode. \n\nWhen availability is an overriding concern, other approved actions in response to an audit failure are as follows: \n\n1) If the failure was caused by the lack of audit record storage capacity, the network device must continue generating audit records if possible (automatically restarting the audit service if necessary), overwriting the oldest audit records in a first-in-first-out manner; or\n\n2) If audit records are sent to a centralized collection server and communication with this server is lost or the server fails, the network device must queue audit records locally until communication is restored or until the audit records are retrieved manually. Upon restoration of the connection to the centralized collection server, action should be taken to synchronize the local audit data with the collection server.",
      "severity": "low"
    },
    {
      "id": "V-60127",
      "title": "The BIG-IP appliance must be configured to protect audit information from any type of unauthorized read access.",
      "description": "Audit information includes all information (e.g., audit records, audit settings, and audit reports) needed to successfully audit information system activity.\n\nIf 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 use to his or her advantage.\n\nTo ensure the veracity of audit data, the information system and/or the network device must protect audit information from any and all unauthorized read access.\n\nThis requirement can be achieved through multiple methods that will depend upon system architecture and design. Commonly employed methods for protecting audit information include least privilege permissions as well as restricting the location and number of log file repositories.\n\nAdditionally, network devices with user interfaces to audit records should not allow for the unfettered manipulation of or access to those records via the device interface. If the device provides access to the audit data, the device becomes accountable for ensuring audit information is protected from unauthorized access.",
      "severity": "medium"
    },
    {
      "id": "V-60129",
      "title": "The BIG-IP appliance must be configured to protect audit information from unauthorized modification.",
      "description": "Audit information includes all information (e.g., audit records, audit settings, and audit reports) needed to successfully audit network device activity.\n\nIf audit data were to become compromised, then forensic analysis and discovery of the true source of potentially malicious system activity would be impossible to achieve.\n\nTo ensure the veracity of audit data, the network device must protect audit information from unauthorized modification.\n\nThis requirement can be achieved through multiple methods, which will depend upon system architecture and design. Some commonly employed methods include ensuring log files receive the proper file system permissions and limiting log data locations.\n\nNetwork devices providing a user interface to audit data will leverage user permissions and roles identifying the user accessing the data and the corresponding rights that the user enjoys in order to make access decisions regarding the modification of audit data.",
      "severity": "medium"
    },
    {
      "id": "V-60131",
      "title": "The BIG-IP appliance must be configured to protect audit information from unauthorized deletion.",
      "description": "Audit information includes all information (e.g., audit records, audit settings, and audit reports) needed to successfully audit information system activity.\n\nIf audit data were to become compromised, then forensic analysis and discovery of the true source of potentially malicious system activity would be impossible to achieve. \n\nTo ensure the veracity of audit data, the network device must protect audit information from unauthorized deletion. This requirement can be achieved through multiple methods, which will depend upon system architecture and design. Some commonly employed methods include: ensuring log files receive the proper file system permissions utilizing file system protections, restricting access, and backing up log data to ensure log data is retained. \n\nNetwork devices providing a user interface to audit data will leverage user permissions and roles identifying the user accessing the data and the corresponding rights the user enjoys in order to make access decisions regarding the deletion of audit data.",
      "severity": "medium"
    },
    {
      "id": "V-60133",
      "title": "The BIG-IP appliance must be configured to protect audit tools from unauthorized access.",
      "description": "Protecting audit data also includes identifying and protecting the tools used to view and manipulate log data. Therefore, protecting audit tools is necessary to prevent unauthorized operation on audit data.\n\nNetwork devices providing tools to interface with audit data will leverage user permissions and roles identifying the user accessing the tools and the corresponding rights the user enjoys in order to make access decisions regarding the access to audit tools.\n\nAudit tools include, but are not limited to, vendor-provided and open source audit tools needed to successfully view and manipulate audit information system activity and records. Audit tools include custom queries and report generators.",
      "severity": "medium"
    },
    {
      "id": "V-60135",
      "title": "The BIG-IP appliance must be configured to back up audit records at least every seven (7) days onto a different system or system component than the system or component being audited.",
      "description": "Protection of log data includes assuring log data is not accidentally lost or deleted. Regularly backing up audit records to a different system or onto separate media than the system being audited helps to assure, in the event of a catastrophic system failure, the audit records will be retained.\n\nThis helps to ensure a compromise of the information system being audited does not also result in a compromise of the audit records.",
      "severity": "low"
    },
    {
      "id": "V-60137",
      "title": "The BIG-IP appliance must be configured to use NIAP evaluated cryptographic mechanisms to protect the integrity of audit information at rest.",
      "description": "Audit records may be tampered with. If the integrity of audit data were to become compromised, then forensic analysis and discovery of the true source of potentially malicious system activity is impossible to achieve.\n\nProtection of audit records and audit data, including audit configuration settings, is of critical importance. Cryptographic mechanisms are the industry-established standard used to protect the integrity of audit data. An example of a cryptographic mechanism is the computation and application of a cryptographic-signed hash using asymmetric cryptography.\n\nThis requirement is not intended to cause a new cryptographic hash to be generated every time a record is added to a log file.",
      "severity": "medium"
    },
    {
      "id": "V-60139",
      "title": "The BIG-IP appliance must be configured to prohibit the use of all unnecessary and/or nonsecure functions, ports, protocols, and/or services, as defined in the Ports, Protocols, and Services Management (PPSM) Category Assurance List (CAL) and vulnerability assessments.",
      "description": "In order to prevent unauthorized connection of devices, unauthorized transfer of information, or unauthorized tunneling (i.e., embedding of data types within data types), organizations must disable unused or unnecessary physical and logical ports/protocols on information systems.\n\nNetwork devices are capable of providing a wide variety of functions and services. Some of the functions and services provided by default may not be necessary to support essential organizational operations. Additionally, it is sometimes convenient to provide multiple services from a single component (e.g., email and web services); however, doing so increases risk over limiting the services provided by any one component. \n\nTo support the requirements and principles of least functionality, the network device must support the organizational requirements providing only essential capabilities and limiting the use of ports, protocols, and/or services to only those required, authorized, and approved to conduct official business or to address authorized quality of life issues.",
      "severity": "medium"
    },
    {
      "id": "V-60143",
      "title": "The BIG-IP appliance must be configured to uniquely identify and authenticate organizational administrators (or processes acting on behalf of organizational administrators).",
      "description": "To assure accountability and prevent unauthenticated access, organizational administrators must be uniquely identified and authenticated for all network management accesses to prevent potential misuse and compromise of the system.",
      "severity": "high"
    },
    {
      "id": "V-60145",
      "title": "The BIG-IP appliance must be configured to ensure administrators are authenticated with an individual authenticator prior to using a group authenticator.",
      "description": "To assure individual accountability and prevent unauthorized access, administrators must be individually identified and authenticated. \n\nIndividual accountability mandates that each administrator is uniquely identified. A group authenticator is a shared account or some other form of authentication that allows multiple unique individuals to access the network device using a single account. \n\nIf a device allows or provides for group authenticators, it must first individually authenticate administrators prior to implementing group authenticator functionality. \n\nSome devices may not have the need to provide a group authenticator; this is considered a matter of device design. In those instances where the device design includes the use of a group authenticator, this requirement will apply. This requirement applies to accounts created and managed on or by the network device.",
      "severity": "medium"
    },
    {
      "id": "V-60147",
      "title": "The BIG-IP appliance must be configured to enforce a minimum 15-character password length.",
      "description": "Password complexity, or strength, is a measure of the effectiveness of a password in resisting attempts at guessing and brute-force attacks. Password length is one factor of several that helps to determine strength and how long it takes to crack a password.\n\nThe shorter the password, the lower the number of possible combinations that need to be tested before the password is compromised. Use of more characters in a password helps to exponentially increase the time and/or resources required to compromise the password.",
      "severity": "medium"
    },
    {
      "id": "V-60149",
      "title": "The BIG-IP appliance must be configured to prohibit password reuse for a minimum of five generations.",
      "description": "Password complexity, or strength, is a measure of the effectiveness of a password in resisting attempts at guessing and brute-force attacks. \n\nTo meet password policy requirements, passwords need to be changed at specific policy-based intervals. \n\nIf the network device allows the user to consecutively reuse their password when that password has exceeded its defined lifetime, the end result is a password that is not changed as per policy requirements.",
      "severity": "medium"
    },
    {
      "id": "V-60151",
      "title": "If multifactor authentication is not supported and passwords must be used, the BIG-IP appliance must enforce password complexity by requiring that at least one lower-case character be used.",
      "description": "Use of a complex password helps to increase the time and resources required to compromise the password. Password complexity, or strength, is a measure of the effectiveness of a password in resisting attempts at guessing and brute-force attacks. \n\nPassword complexity is one factor of several that determine how long it takes to crack a password. The more complex the password, the greater the number of possible combinations that need to be tested before the password is compromised.",
      "severity": "medium"
    },
    {
      "id": "V-60153",
      "title": "If multifactor authentication is not supported and passwords must be used, the BIG-IP appliance must enforce password complexity by requiring that at least one special character be used.",
      "description": "Use of a complex password helps to increase the time and resources required to compromise the password. Password complexity, or strength, is a measure of the effectiveness of a password in resisting attempts at guessing and brute-force attacks. \n\nPassword complexity is one factor of several that determine how long it takes to crack a password. The more complex the password, the greater the number of possible combinations that need to be tested before the password is compromised.",
      "severity": "medium"
    },
    {
      "id": "V-60155",
      "title": "If multifactor authentication is not supported and passwords must be used, the BIG-IP appliance must require that when a password is changed, the characters are changed in at least eight (8) of the positions within the password.",
      "description": "If the application allows the user to consecutively reuse extensive portions of passwords, this increases the chances of password compromise by increasing the window of opportunity for attempts at guessing and brute-force attacks.\n\nThe number of changed characters refers to the number of changes required with respect to the total number of positions in the current password. In other words, characters may be the same within the two passwords; however, the positions of the like characters must be different.",
      "severity": "medium"
    },
    {
      "id": "V-60157",
      "title": "The BIG-IP appliance must only store encrypted representations of passwords.",
      "description": "Passwords need to be protected at all times, and encryption is the standard method for protecting passwords. If passwords are not encrypted, they can be plainly read (i.e., clear text) and easily compromised.\n\nNetwork devices must enforce password encryption using an approved cryptographic hash function, when storing passwords.",
      "severity": "medium"
    },
    {
      "id": "V-60159",
      "title": "The BIG-IP appliance must only transmit encrypted representations of passwords.",
      "description": "Passwords need to be protected at all times, and encryption is the standard method for protecting passwords. If passwords are not encrypted, they can be plainly read (i.e., clear text) and easily compromised.\n\nNetwork devices can accomplish this by making direct function calls to encryption modules or by leveraging operating system encryption capabilities.",
      "severity": "medium"
    },
    {
      "id": "V-60161",
      "title": "The BIG-IP appliance must be configured to enforce a 60-day maximum password lifetime restriction.",
      "description": "Any password, no matter how complex, can eventually be cracked. Therefore, passwords need to be changed at specific intervals. \n\nOne method of minimizing this risk is to use complex passwords and periodically change them. If the network device does not limit the lifetime of passwords and force users to change their passwords, there is the risk that the passwords could be compromised. \n\nThis requirement does not include emergency administration accounts that are meant for access to the network device in case of failure. These accounts are not required to have maximum password lifetime restrictions.",
      "severity": "medium"
    },
    {
      "id": "V-60163",
      "title": "The BIG-IP appliance must be configured to obscure feedback of authentication information during the authentication process to protect the information from possible exploitation/use by unauthorized individuals.",
      "description": "To prevent the compromise of authentication information such as passwords during the authentication process, the feedback from the network device must not provide any information that would allow an unauthorized user to compromise the authentication mechanism. \n\nObfuscation of user-provided information when typed into the system is a method used in addressing this risk. For example, displaying asterisks when a user types in a password is an example of obscuring feedback of authentication information.",
      "severity": "medium"
    },
    {
      "id": "V-60165",
      "title": "The BIG-IP appliance must be configured to terminate all sessions and network connections when nonlocal device maintenance is completed.",
      "description": "If a device management session or connection remains open after management is completed, it may be hijacked by an attacker and used to compromise or damage the network device.\n\nNonlocal device management and diagnostic activities are those activities conducted by individuals communicating through a network, either an external network (e.g., the Internet) or an internal network. \n\nIn the event the remote node has abnormally terminated or an upstream link from the managed device is down, the management session will be terminated, thereby freeing device resources and eliminating any possibility of an unauthorized user being orphaned to an open idle session of the managed device.",
      "severity": "medium"
    },
    {
      "id": "V-60167",
      "title": "The BIG-IP appliance must be configured to terminate all network connections associated with a device management session at the end of the session, or the session must be configured to be terminated after 10 minutes of inactivity except to fulfill documented and validated mission requirements.",
      "description": "Terminating an idle session within a short time period reduces the window of opportunity for unauthorized personnel to take control of a management session enabled on the console or console port that has been left unattended. In addition, quickly terminating an idle session will also free up resources committed by the managed network element. \n\nTerminating network connections associated with communications sessions includes, for example, de-allocating associated TCP/IP address/port pairs at the operating system level or de-allocating networking assignments at the application level if multiple application sessions are using a single, operating system-level network connection. This does not mean that the device terminates all sessions or network access; it only ends the inactive session and releases the resources associated with that session.",
      "severity": "high"
    },
    {
      "id": "V-60171",
      "title": "The BIG-IP appliance must be configured to automatically remove or disable emergency accounts after 72 hours.",
      "description": "Emergency accounts are administrator accounts that are established in response to crisis situations where the need for rapid account activation is required. Therefore, emergency account activation may bypass normal account authorization processes. \n\nIf emergency accounts remain active when no longer needed, they may be used to gain unauthorized access. The risk is greater for the network device since these accounts have elevated privileges. To mitigate this risk, automated termination of all emergency accounts must be set upon account creation.\n\nEmergency accounts are different from infrequently used accounts (i.e., local logon accounts used by network administrators when network or normal logon/access is not available). Infrequently used accounts also remain available and are not subject to automatic termination dates. However, an emergency account is normally a different account that is created for use by vendors or system maintainers.",
      "severity": "medium"
    },
    {
      "id": "V-60173",
      "title": "The application must be configured to reveal error messages only to authorized individuals (ISSO, ISSM, and SA).",
      "description": "Only authorized personnel should be aware of errors and the details of the errors. Error messages are an indicator of an organization's operational state. Additionally, sensitive account information must not be revealed through error messages to unauthorized personnel or their designated representatives.",
      "severity": "medium"
    },
    {
      "id": "V-60175",
      "title": "The BIG-IP appliance must be configured to activate a system alert message, send an alarm, and/or automatically shut down when a component failure is detected.",
      "description": "Predictable failure prevention requires organizational planning to address device failure issues. If components key to maintaining the device's security fail to function, the device could continue operating in an unsecure state. If appropriate actions are not taken when a network device failure occurs, a denial of service condition may occur that could result in mission failure since the network would be operating without a critical security monitoring and prevention function. Upon detecting a failure of network device security components, the network device must activate a system alert message, send an alarm, or shut down.",
      "severity": "medium"
    },
    {
      "id": "V-60177",
      "title": "The BIG-IP appliance must be configured to generate alerts that can be forwarded to the administrators and Information System Security Officer (ISSO) when accounts are created.",
      "description": "Once an attacker establishes initial access to a system, the attacker often attempts to create a persistent method of reestablishing access. One way to accomplish this is for the attacker to simply create a new account. Notification of account creation is one method for mitigating this risk. A comprehensive account management process will ensure an audit trail that documents the creation of accounts and notifies administrators and the ISSO. Such a process greatly reduces the risk that accounts will be surreptitiously created and provides logging that can be used for forensic purposes.",
      "severity": "medium"
    },
    {
      "id": "V-60179",
      "title": "The BIG-IP appliance must be configured to generate alerts that can be forwarded to the administrators and Information System Security Officer (ISSO) when accounts are modified.",
      "description": "Once an attacker establishes initial access to a system, the attacker often attempts to create a persistent method of reestablishing access. One way to accomplish this is for the attacker to simply modify an existing account. Notification of account modification is one method for mitigating this risk. A comprehensive account management process will ensure an audit trail that documents the modification of device administrator accounts and notifies administrators and the ISSO. Such a process greatly reduces the risk that accounts will be surreptitiously modified and provides logging that can be used for forensic purposes.\n\nThe network device must generate the alert. Notification may be done by a management server.",
      "severity": "medium"
    },
    {
      "id": "V-60181",
      "title": "The BIG-IP appliance must be configured to generate alerts that can be forwarded to the administrators and Information System Security Officer (ISSO) when accounts are disabled.",
      "description": "When application accounts are disabled, administrator accessibility is affected. Accounts are utilized for identifying individual device administrators or for identifying the device processes themselves. \n\nIn order to detect and respond to events that affect administrator accessibility and device processing, devices must audit account-disabling actions and, as required, notify the appropriate individuals so they can investigate the event. Such a capability greatly reduces the risk that device accessibility will be negatively affected for extended periods of time and also provides logging that can be used for forensic purposes.",
      "severity": "medium"
    },
    {
      "id": "V-60183",
      "title": "The BIG-IP appliance must be configured to generate alerts that can be forwarded to the administrators and Information System Security Officer (ISSO) when accounts are removed.",
      "description": "When application accounts are removed, administrator accessibility is affected. Accounts are utilized for identifying individual device administrators or for identifying the device processes themselves. \n\nIn order to detect and respond to events that affect administrator accessibility and device processing, devices must audit account removal actions and, as required, notify the appropriate individuals so they can investigate the event. Such a capability greatly reduces the risk that device accessibility will be negatively affected for extended periods of time and also provides logging that can be used for forensic purposes.",
      "severity": "medium"
    },
    {
      "id": "V-60185",
      "title": "The BIG-IP appliance must be configured to automatically terminate a network administrator session after organization-defined conditions or trigger events requiring session disconnect.",
      "description": "Automatic session termination addresses the termination of administrator-initiated logical sessions in contrast to the termination of network connections that are associated with communications sessions (i.e., network disconnect). A logical session (for local, network, and remote access) is initiated whenever an administrator (or process acting on behalf of a user) accesses a network device. Such administrator sessions can be terminated (and thus terminate network administrator access) without terminating network sessions. \n\nSession termination terminates all processes associated with an administrator's logical session except those processes that are specifically created by the administrator (i.e., session owner) to continue after the session is terminated. \n\nConditions or trigger events requiring automatic session termination can include, for example, organization-defined periods of user inactivity, targeted responses to certain types of incidents, and time-of-day restrictions on information system use. These conditions will vary across environments and network device types.",
      "severity": "high"
    },
    {
      "id": "V-60187",
      "title": "The BIG-IP appliance must be configured to automatically audit account-enabling actions.",
      "description": "Once an attacker establishes initial access to a system, the attacker often attempts to create a persistent method of reestablishing access. One way to accomplish this is for the attacker to simply enable a new or disabled account. Notification of account enabling is one method for mitigating this risk. A comprehensive account management process will ensure an audit trail that documents the creation of application user accounts and notifies administrators and Information System Security Officers (ISSO). Such a process greatly reduces the risk that accounts will be surreptitiously created and provides logging that can be used for forensic purposes.",
      "severity": "medium"
    },
    {
      "id": "V-60189",
      "title": "The BIG-IP appliance must be configured to generate an immediate alert for account-enabling actions.",
      "description": "Once an attacker establishes initial access to a system, the attacker often attempts to create a persistent method of reestablishing access. One way to accomplish this is for the attacker to simply enable a new or disabled account. Notification of account enabling is one method for mitigating this risk. A comprehensive account management process will ensure an audit trail that documents the creation of application user accounts and notifies administrators and ISSOs. Such a process greatly reduces the risk that accounts will be surreptitiously enabled and provides logging that can be used for forensic purposes. \n\nIn order to detect and respond to events that affect network administrator accessibility and device processing, network devices must audit account-enabling actions and, as required, notify the appropriate individuals so they can investigate the event.",
      "severity": "medium"
    },
    {
      "id": "V-60191",
      "title": "The BIG-IP appliance must be configured to transmit access authorization information using approved security safeguards to authorized information systems that enforce access control decisions.",
      "description": "Protecting access authorization information (i.e., access control decisions) ensures that authorization information cannot be altered, spoofed, or otherwise compromised during transmission.\n\nIn distributed information systems, authorization processes and access control decisions may occur in separate parts of the systems. In such instances, authorization information is transmitted securely so timely access control decisions can be enforced at the appropriate locations. To support the access control decisions, it may be necessary to transmit, as part of the access authorization information, supporting security attributes. This is because, in distributed information systems, there are various access control decisions that need to be made, and different entities (e.g., services) make these decisions in a serial fashion, each requiring some security attributes to make the decisions.",
      "severity": "medium"
    },
    {
      "id": "V-60193",
      "title": "The BIG-IP appliance must be configured to enforce organization-defined role-based access control policies over defined subjects and objects.",
      "description": "Organizations can create specific roles based on job functions and the authorizations (i.e., privileges) to perform needed operations on organizational information systems associated with the organization-defined roles. When administrators are assigned to the organizational roles, they inherit the authorizations or privileges defined for those roles. RBAC simplifies privilege administration for organizations because privileges are not assigned directly to every administrator (which can be a significant number of individuals for mid- to large-size organizations) but are instead acquired through role assignments. RBAC can be implemented either as a mandatory or discretionary form of access control.\n\nThe RBAC policies and the subjects and objects are defined uniquely for each network device, so they cannot be specified in the requirement.",
      "severity": "medium"
    },
    {
      "id": "V-60195",
      "title": "The BIG-IP appliance must be configured to automatically lock the account until the locked account is released by an administrator when three unsuccessful logon attempts in 15 minutes are exceeded.",
      "description": "By limiting the number of failed logon attempts, the risk of unauthorized system access via user password guessing, otherwise known as brute-forcing, is reduced. Limits are imposed by locking the account.",
      "severity": "medium"
    },
    {
      "id": "V-60197",
      "title": "The BIG-IP appliance must be configured to notify the administrator, upon successful logon (access), of the location of last logon (terminal or IP address) in addition to the date and time of the last logon (access).",
      "description": "Administrators need to be aware of activity that occurs regarding their account. Providing them with information deemed important by the organization may aid in the discovery of unauthorized access or thwart a potential attacker. \n\nOrganizations should consider the risks to the specific information system being accessed and the threats presented by the device to the environment when configuring this option. An excessive or unnecessary amount of information presented to the administrator at logon is not recommended.",
      "severity": "low"
    },
    {
      "id": "V-60199",
      "title": "The BIG-IP appliance must be configured to allow designated individuals or roles to change the auditing to be performed based on all selectable event criteria within near-real-time.",
      "description": "If authorized individuals do not have the ability to modify auditing parameters in response to a changing threat environment, the organization may not be able to effectively respond, and important forensic information may be lost.\n\nThis requirement enables organizations to extend or limit auditing as necessary to meet organizational requirements. Auditing that is limited to conserve information system resources may be extended to address certain threat situations. In addition, auditing may be limited to a specific set of events to facilitate audit reduction, analysis, and reporting. Organizations can establish time thresholds in which audit actions are changed, for example, near-real-time, within minutes, or within hours.\n\nThe individuals or roles to change the auditing are dependent on the security configuration of the network device--for example, it may be configured to allow only some administrators to change the auditing, while other administrators can review audit logs but not reconfigure auditing. Because this capability is so powerful, organizations should be extremely cautious about only granting this capability to fully authorized security personnel.",
      "severity": "medium"
    },
    {
      "id": "V-60201",
      "title": "The BIG-IP appliance must be configured to allocate audit record storage capacity in accordance with organization-defined audit record storage requirements.",
      "description": "In order to ensure network devices have a sufficient storage capacity in which to write the audit logs, they need to be able to allocate audit record storage capacity. The task of allocating audit record storage capacity is usually performed during initial device setup if it is modifiable. \n\nThe value for the organization-defined audit record storage requirement will depend on the amount of storage available on the network device, the anticipated volume of logs, the frequency of transfer from the network device to centralized log servers, and other factors.",
      "severity": "medium"
    },
    {
      "id": "V-60203",
      "title": "The BIG-IP appliance must be configured to generate an immediate alert when allocated audit record storage volume reaches 75% of repository maximum audit record storage capacity.",
      "description": "If security personnel are not notified immediately upon storage volume utilization reaching 75%, they are unable to plan for storage capacity expansion. This could lead to the loss of audit information. Note that while the network device must generate the alert, notification may be done by a management server.",
      "severity": "low"
    },
    {
      "id": "V-60205",
      "title": "The BIG-IP appliance must be configured to synchronize internal information system clocks with the primary and secondary time sources located in different geographic regions using redundant authoritative time sources.",
      "description": "The loss of connectivity to a particular authoritative time source will result in the loss of time synchronization (free-run mode) and increasingly inaccurate time stamps on audit events and other functions. \n\nMultiple time sources provide redundancy by including a secondary source. Time synchronization is usually a hierarchy; clients synchronize time to a local source while that source synchronizes its time to a more accurate source. The network device must utilize an authoritative time server and/or be configured to use redundant authoritative time sources. This requirement is related to the comparison done in CCI-001891.\n\nDoD-approved solutions consist of a combination of a primary and secondary time source using a combination or multiple instances of the following: a time server designated for the appropriate DoD network (NIPRNet/SIPRNet); United States Naval Observatory (USNO) time servers; and/or the Global Positioning System (GPS). The secondary time source must be located in a different geographic region from the primary time source.",
      "severity": "medium"
    },
    {
      "id": "V-60207",
      "title": "The BIG-IP appliance must be configured to implement automated security responses if baseline configurations are changed in an unauthorized manner.",
      "description": "Unauthorized changes to the baseline configuration could make the device vulnerable to various attacks or allow unauthorized access to the device. Changes to device configurations can have unintended side effects, some of which may be relevant to security. \n\nDetecting such changes and providing an automated response can help avoid unintended, negative consequences that could ultimately affect the security state of the device. Examples of security responses include, but are not limited to, the following: halting application processing; halting selected functions; or issuing alerts/notifications to organizational personnel when there is an unauthorized modification of a configuration item. The appropriate automated security response may vary depending on the nature of the baseline configuration change, the role of the network device, the availability of organizational personnel to respond to alerts, etc.",
      "severity": "medium"
    },
    {
      "id": "V-60209",
      "title": "The BIG-IP appliance must be configured to enforce access restrictions associated with changes to device configuration.",
      "description": "Failure to provide logical access restrictions associated with changes to device configuration may have significant effects on the overall security of the system. \n\nWhen dealing with access restrictions pertaining to change control, it should be noted that any changes to the hardware, software, and/or firmware components of the device can potentially have significant effects on the overall security of the device. \n\nAccordingly, only qualified and authorized individuals should be allowed to obtain access to device components for the purposes of initiating changes, including upgrades and modifications. \n\nLogical access restrictions include, for example, controls that restrict access to workflow automation, media libraries, abstract layers (e.g., changes implemented into third-party interfaces rather than directly into information systems), and change windows (e.g., changes occur only during specified times, making unauthorized changes easy to discover).",
      "severity": "medium"
    },
    {
      "id": "V-60211",
      "title": "The BIG-IP appliance must be configured to audit the enforcement actions used to restrict access associated with changes to the device.",
      "description": "Without auditing the enforcement of access restrictions against changes to the device configuration, it will be difficult to identify attempted attacks, and an audit trail will not be available for forensic investigation for after-the-fact actions. \n\nEnforcement actions are the methods or mechanisms used to prevent unauthorized changes to configuration settings. Enforcement action methods may be as simple as denying access to a file based on the application of file permissions (access restriction). Audit items may consist of lists of actions blocked by access restrictions or changes identified after the fact.",
      "severity": "medium"
    },
    {
      "id": "V-60213",
      "title": "The BIG-IP appliance must be configured to dynamically manage user accounts.",
      "description": "Dynamic user account management prevents disruption of operations by minimizing the need for system restarts. Dynamic establishment of new user accounts will occur while the system is operational. New user accounts or changes to existing user accounts must take effect without the need for a system or session restart. Pre-established trust relationships and mechanisms with appropriate authorities (e.g., Active Directory or authentication server) that validate each user account are essential to prevent unauthorized access by changed or revoked accounts.",
      "severity": "medium"
    },
    {
      "id": "V-60215",
      "title": "The BIG-IP appliance must be configured to allow the use of a temporary password for system logons with an immediate change to a permanent password.",
      "description": "Without providing this capability, an account may be created without a password. Non-repudiation cannot be guaranteed once an account is created if a user is not forced to change the temporary password upon initial logon. \n\nTemporary passwords are typically used to allow access to applications when new accounts are created or passwords are changed. It is common practice for administrators to create temporary passwords for user accounts that allow the users to log on yet force them to change the password once they have successfully authenticated.",
      "severity": "medium"
    },
    {
      "id": "V-60217",
      "title": "The BIG-IP appliance must be configured to protect against or limit the effects of all known types of Denial of Service (DoS) attacks on the BIG-IP appliance management network by limiting the number of concurrent sessions.",
      "description": "DoS is a condition when a resource is not available for legitimate users. When this occurs, the organization either cannot accomplish its mission or must operate at degraded capacity.\n\nThis requirement addresses the configuration of network devices to mitigate the impact of DoS attacks that have occurred or are ongoing on device availability. For each network device, known and potential DoS attacks must be identified and solutions for each type implemented. A variety of technologies exist to limit or, in some cases, eliminate the effects of DoS attacks (e.g., limiting processes or restricting the number of sessions the device opens at one time). Employing increased capacity and bandwidth, combined with service redundancy, may reduce the susceptibility to some DoS attacks. \n\nThe security safeguards cannot be defined at the DoD level because they vary according to the capabilities of the individual network devices and the security controls applied on the adjacent networks (for example, firewalls performing packet filtering to block DoS attacks).",
      "severity": "high"
    },
    {
      "id": "V-60219",
      "title": "The BIG-IP appliance must be configured to off-load audit records onto a different system or media than the system being audited.",
      "description": "Information stored in one location is vulnerable to accidental or incidental deletion or alteration.\n\nOff-loading is a common process in information systems with limited audit storage capacity.",
      "severity": "medium"
    },
    {
      "id": "V-60221",
      "title": "The BIG-IP appliance must be configured in accordance with the security configuration settings based on DoD security configuration or implementation guidance, including STIGs, NSA configuration guides, CTOs, and DTMs.",
      "description": "Configuring the network device to implement organization-wide security implementation guides and security checklists ensures compliance with federal standards and establishes a common security baseline across DoD that reflects the most restrictive security posture consistent with operational requirements.\n\nConfiguration settings are the set of parameters that can be changed that affect the security posture and/or functionality of the network device. Security-related parameters are those parameters impacting the security state of the network device, including the parameters required to satisfy other security control requirements.",
      "severity": "medium"
    },
    {
      "id": "V-60223",
      "title": "The BIG-IP appliance must be configured to notify the administrator of the number of successful logon attempts occurring during an organization-defined time period.",
      "description": "Administrators need to be aware of activity that occurs regarding their network device management account. Providing administrators with information regarding the date and time of their last successful logon allows the administrator to determine if any unauthorized activity has occurred. This incorporates all methods of logon, including, but not limited to, SSH, HTTP, HTTPS, and physical connectivity. \n\nThe organization-defined time period is dependent on the frequency with which administrators typically log on to the network device.",
      "severity": "low"
    },
    {
      "id": "V-60225",
      "title": "The BIG-IP appliance must be configured to use automated mechanisms to alert security personnel to threats identified by authoritative sources (e.g., CTOs) and IAW with CJCSM 6510.01B.",
      "description": "By immediately displaying an alarm message, potential security violations can be identified more quickly even when administrators are not logged onto the network device. An example of a mechanism to facilitate this would be through the utilization of SNMP traps.",
      "severity": "medium"
    },
    {
      "id": "V-60227",
      "title": "The BIG-IP appliance must be configured to employ automated mechanisms to centrally manage authentication settings.",
      "description": "The use of authentication servers or other centralized management servers for providing centralized authentication services is required for network device management. Maintaining local administrator accounts for daily usage on each network device without centralized management is not scalable or feasible. Without centralized management, it is likely that credentials for some network devices will be forgotten, leading to delays in administration, which itself leads to delays in remediating production problems and in addressing compromises in a timely fashion.",
      "severity": "medium"
    },
    {
      "id": "V-60229",
      "title": "The BIG-IP appliance must be configured to employ automated mechanisms to centrally apply authentication settings.",
      "description": "The use of authentication servers or other centralized management servers for providing centralized authentication services is required for network device management. Maintaining local administrator accounts for daily usage on each network device without centralized management is not scalable or feasible. Without centralized management, it is likely that credentials for some network devices will be forgotten, leading to delays in administration, which itself leads to delays in remediating production problems and in addressing compromises in a timely fashion.",
      "severity": "medium"
    },
    {
      "id": "V-60231",
      "title": "The BIG-IP appliance must be configured to employ automated mechanisms to centrally verify authentication settings.",
      "description": "The use of authentication servers or other centralized management servers for providing centralized authentication services is required for network device management. Maintaining local administrator accounts for daily usage on each network device without centralized management is not scalable or feasible. Without centralized management, it is likely that credentials for some network devices will be forgotten, leading to delays in administration, which itself leads to delays in remediating production problems and in addressing compromises in a timely fashion.",
      "severity": "medium"
    },
    {
      "id": "V-60233",
      "title": "The BIG-IP appliance must create backups of system-level information contained in the information system when changes occur or weekly, whichever is sooner.",
      "description": "System-level information includes default and customized settings and security attributes, including ACLs that relate to the network device configuration, as well as software required for the execution and operation of the device. Information system backup is a critical step in ensuring system integrity and availability. If the system fails and there is no backup of the system-level information, a denial of service condition is possible for all who utilize this critical network component.\n\nThis control requires the network device to support the organizational central backup process for system-level information associated with the network device. This function may be provided by the network device itself; however, the preferred best practice is a centralized backup rather than each network device performing discrete backups.",
      "severity": "low"
    },
    {
      "id": "V-60235",
      "title": "The BIG-IP appliance must be configured to create backups of information system documentation, including security-related documentation, when changes occur or weekly, whichever is sooner.",
      "description": "Information system backup is a critical step in maintaining data assurance and availability. Information system and security-related documentation contains information pertaining to system configuration and security settings. If this information were not backed up and a system failure were to occur, the security settings would be difficult to reconfigure quickly and accurately. Maintaining a backup of information system and security-related documentation provides for a quicker recovery time when system outages occur.\n\nThis control requires the network device to support the organizational central backup process for user account information associated with the network device. This function may be provided by the network device itself; however, the preferred best practice is a centralized backup rather than each network device performing discrete backups.",
      "severity": "medium"
    },
    {
      "id": "V-60237",
      "title": "The BIG-IP appliance must be configured to employ automated mechanisms to assist in the tracking of security incidents.",
      "description": "Despite the investment in perimeter defense technologies, enclaves are still faced with detecting, analyzing, and remediating network breaches and exploits that have made it past the network device. An automated incident response infrastructure allows network operations to immediately react to incidents by identifying, analyzing, and mitigating any network device compromise. Incident response teams can perform root cause analysis, determine how the exploit proliferated, and identify all affected nodes, as well as contain and eliminate the threat.\n\nThe network device assists in the tracking of security incidents by logging detected security events. The audit log and network device application logs capture different types of events. The audit log tracks audit events occurring on the components of the network device. The application log tracks the results of the network device content filtering function. These logs must be aggregated into a centralized server and can be used as part of the organization's security incident tracking and analysis.",
      "severity": "medium"
    },
    {
      "id": "V-60239",
      "title": "The BIG-IP appliance must be configured to obtain its public key certificates from an appropriate certificate policy through a DoD-approved service provider.",
      "description": "For user certificates, each organization obtains certificates from an approved, shared service provider, as required by OMB policy. For federal agencies operating a legacy public key infrastructure cross-certified with the Federal Bridge Certification Authority at medium assurance or higher, this Certification Authority will suffice.",
      "severity": "medium"
    },
    {
      "id": "V-60241",
      "title": "The BIG-IP appliance must be configured to display the Standard Mandatory DoD Notice and Consent Banner before granting access to the device.",
      "description": "Display of the DoD-approved use notification before granting access to the network device ensures privacy and security notification verbiage used is consistent with applicable federal laws, Executive Orders, directives, policies, regulations, standards, and guidance.\n\nSystem use notifications are required only for access via logon interfaces with human users.",
      "severity": "low"
    },
    {
      "id": "V-60249",
      "title": "If multifactor authentication is not supported and passwords must be used, the BIG-IP appliance must enforce password complexity by requiring that at least one upper-case character be used.",
      "description": "Use of a complex passwords helps to increase the time and resources required to compromise the password. Password complexity, or strength, is a measure of the effectiveness of a password in resisting attempts at guessing and brute-force attacks. \n\nPassword complexity is one factor of several that determine how long it takes to crack a password. The more complex the password is, the greater the number of possible combinations that need to be tested before the password is compromised.",
      "severity": "medium"
    },
    {
      "id": "V-60251",
      "title": "If multifactor authentication is not supported and passwords must be used, the BIG-IP appliance must enforce password complexity by requiring that at least one numeric character be used.",
      "description": "Use of a complex password helps to increase the time and resources required to compromise the password. Password complexity, or strength, is a measure of the effectiveness of a password in resisting attempts at guessing and brute-force attacks. \n\nPassword complexity is one factor of several that determine how long it takes to crack a password. The more complex the password, the greater the number of possible combinations that need to be tested before the password is compromised.",
      "severity": "medium"
    },
    {
      "id": "V-60253",
      "title": "The BIG-IP appliance must be configured to enforce 24 hours/1 day as the minimum password lifetime.",
      "description": "Enforcing a minimum password lifetime helps prevent repeated password changes to defeat the password reuse or history enforcement requirement.\n\nRestricting this setting limits the user's ability to change their password. Passwords need to be changed at specific policy-based intervals; however, if the network device allows the user to immediately and continually change their password, then the password could be repeatedly changed in a short period of time to defeat the organization's policy regarding password reuse.",
      "severity": "medium"
    },
    {
      "id": "V-60255",
      "title": "The BIG-IP appliance must be configured to use mechanisms meeting the requirements of applicable federal laws, Executive Orders, directives, policies, regulations, standards, and guidance for authentication to a cryptographic module.",
      "description": "Unapproved mechanisms that are used for authentication to the cryptographic module are not verified and therefore cannot be relied upon to provide confidentiality or integrity, and DoD data may be compromised.\n\nNetwork devices utilizing encryption are required to use FIPS-compliant mechanisms for authenticating to cryptographic modules.\n\nFIPS 140-2 is the current standard for validating that mechanisms used to access cryptographic modules utilize authentication that meets DoD requirements.",
      "severity": "medium"
    }
  ]
}