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V-256600

CAT II (Medium)

The vPostgres database must use "md5" for authentication.

Rule ID

SV-256600r887586_rule

STIG

VMware vSphere 7.0 vCenter Appliance PostgreSQL Security Technical Implementation Guide

Version

V1R2

CCIs

CCI-000196

Discussion

The DOD standard for authentication is DOD-approved public key infrastructure (PKI) certificates. Authentication based on user ID and password may be used only when it is not possible to employ a PKI certificate, and requires authorizing official approval. In such cases, database passwords stored in clear text, using reversible encryption or unsalted hashes, would be vulnerable to unauthorized disclosure. Database passwords must always be in the form of one-way, salted hashes when stored internally or externally to the database management system (DBMS).

Check Content

At the command prompt, run the following command:

# /opt/vmware/vpostgres/current/bin/psql -U postgres -A -t -c "SHOW password_encryption;"

Expected result:

md5

If the output does not match the expected result, this is a finding.

Fix Text

At the command prompt, run the following commands:

# /opt/vmware/vpostgres/current/bin/psql -U postgres -c "ALTER SYSTEM SET password_encryption TO 'md5';"

# /opt/vmware/vpostgres/current/bin/psql -U postgres -c "SELECT pg_reload_conf();"