V-250335

Discussion

Multifactor authentication creates a layered defense and makes it more difficult for an unauthorized person to access the application server. If one factor is compromised or broken, the attacker still has at least one more barrier to breach before successfully breaking into the target. Unlike a simple username/password scenario where the attacker could gain access by knowing both the username and password without the user knowing his account was compromised, multifactor authentication adds the requirement that the attacker must have something from the user, such as a token, or to biometrically be the user. When accessing the application server via a network connection, administrative access to the application server must be PKI Hardware Token enabled. The high level steps required for configuring Liberty Server to use certificate based authentication include the following: 1. Configure Web Application with client certificate authentication. 2. Configure Liberty SSL configuration with client authentication. 3. Configure Liberty LDAP Security Configuration with certificate filter. Satisfies: SRG-APP-000149-AS-000102, SRG-APP-000151-AS-000103, SRG-APP-000402-AS-000247, SRG-APP-000403-AS-000248, SRG-APP-000177-AS-000126

Check Content

As a user with local file access to ${server.config.dir}/server.xml file, verify the TLS connection used for managing the server is configured to use clientAuthentication.

<featureManager>
<feature>appSecurity-2.0</feature>
<feature>ldapRegistry-3.0</feature>
<feature>transportSecurity-1.0</feature>
</featureManager>

Verify the TLS connection used for managing the server is configured to use clientAuthentication. The following is used as an example.

If the clientAuthentication setting for the TLS management application is not set to "true", this is a finding.

EXAMPLE:
<!-- default SSL configuration is defaultSSLSettings -->      
    <sslDefault sslRef="defaultSSLSettings" />
    <ssl id="defaultSSLSettings" keyStoreRef="defaultKeyStore" sslProtocol="SSL_TLSv2" trustStoreRef="defaultTrustStore"
clientAuthentication="true"/>

Access the web management interface via a web browser and verify TLS secured connectivity to the web based management application.