V-217306

Discussion

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.

Check Content

Review the router configuration to determine if it audits account creation. This requirement can be met by ensuring that configuration changes are logged as shown in the following example: 

system {
    syslog {
        file LOG_FILE {
            change-log info;
        }
    }
}

Note: The parameter “any” can be in place of “change-log” as this will log everything. Also, a syslog server can be configured in addition to or in lieu of logging to a file as shown in the example below.

system {
   syslog {
        host 10.1.58.2 {
            any info;
        }
        file LOG_FILE {
            change-log info;
        }
        console {
            any error;
        }
    }
}

If account creation is not audited, this is a finding.