Details
To ensure accountability and prevent unauthenticated access, organizational users must be identified and authenticated to prevent potential misuse and compromise of the system.
VMware Postgres client authentication is configured in ‘pg_hba.conf’. In this file are a number of lines that specify who can connect to the service, from where, and using what authentication methods. In Postgres there is a concept of a trusted connection where a specific network mask can connect without any authentication, to any account. This connection is termed ‘trust’ in ‘pg_hba.conf’ and it must not be present. Out of the box, VMware Postgres requires standard password authentication for all connections.
Satisfies: SRG-APP-000148-DB-000103, SRG-APP-000171-DB-000074
Solution
Navigate to and open /storage/db/pgdata/pg_hba.conf.
Find and remove the line that has a method of ‘trust’ in the far right column.
A correct, typical line will look like the following:
# TYPE DATABASE USER ADDRESS METHOD
host all all 127.0.0.1/32 md5
Supportive Information
The following resource is also helpful.
This security hardening control applies to the following category of controls within NIST 800-53: Identification and Authentication.This control applies to the following type of system Unix.
References
- 800-53|IA-2
- CAT|I
- CCI|CCI-000764
- Rule-ID|SV-239204r717055_rule
- STIG-ID|VCPG-67-000012
- Vuln-ID|V-239204