2.19 Ensure FIPS 140-2 OpenSSL Cryptography Is Used

Information

Install, configure, and use OpenSSL on a platform that has a NIST certified FIPS 140-2 installation of OpenSSL. This provides MySQL instances the ability to generate and validate cryptographic hashes to protect unclassified information requiring confidentiality and cryptographic protection, in accordance with the data owner's requirements.

Federal Information Processing Standards 140-2 (FIPS 140-2) describes a security standard that can be required by Federal (US Government) agencies for cryptographic modules used to protect sensitive or valuable information. To be considered acceptable for such Federal use, a cryptographic module must be certified for FIPS 140-2. If a system intended to protect sensitive data lacks the proper FIPS 140-2 certificate, Federal agencies cannot purchase it.

Products such as OpenSSL can be used in FIPS mode, although the OpenSSL library itself is not validated for FIPS. Instead, the OpenSSL library is used with the OpenSSL FIPS Object Module to enable OpenSSL-based applications to operate in FIPS mode.

For general information about FIPS and its implementation in OpenSSL, these references may be helpful:

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National Institute of Standards and Technology FIPS PUB 140-2

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OpenSSL FIPS 140-2 Security Policy

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fips_module manual page

Solution

Configure OpenSSL to be FIPS compliant as MySQL uses OpenSSL for cryptographic modules. To configure OpenSSL to be FIPS 140-2 compliant, see the official documentation for your operating system.

Below is a general summary of the steps required:To switch the system to FIPS mode in Oracle Linux 9 or RHEL 9:

# fips-mode-setup -enable
You must reboot the system for the setting to take effect.
FIPS mode will be enabled.
Please reboot the system for the setting to take effect.

After the reboot, you should re-check the current state of FIPS mode:

# fips-mode-setup --check
FIPS mode is enabled.

See Also

https://workbench.cisecurity.org/benchmarks/20223

Item Details

Category: ACCESS CONTROL, IDENTIFICATION AND AUTHENTICATION, SYSTEM AND COMMUNICATIONS PROTECTION

References: 800-53|AC-17(2), 800-53|IA-5, 800-53|IA-5(1), 800-53|SC-8, 800-53|SC-8(1), CSCv7|14.4

Plugin: MySQLDB

Control ID: 5e1e1501840b369359cdf5312fd62194e730d5b143910675dd49241a790e0484