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5.2 Ensure login via 'host' TCP/IP Socket is configured correctly

Information

A large number of authentication METHODs are available for hosts connecting using TCP/IP sockets, including:
 trust
 reject
 md5
 password
 gss
 sspi
 ident
 pam
 ldap
 radius
 cert
METHODs trust, password, and ident are not to be used for remote logins. METHOD md5 is the most popular and can be used in both encrypted and unencrypted sessions.
Use of the gss, sspi, pam, ldap, radius, and cert METHODs, while more secure than md5, are dependent upon the availability of external authenticating processes/services and thus are not covered in this benchmark.
NOTE: Nessus has not performed this check. Please review the benchmark to ensure target compliance.

Solution

Confirm a login attempt has been made by looking for a logged error message detailing the nature of the authenticating failure. In the case of failed login attempts, whether encrypted or unencrypted, check the following:
 The server should be sitting on a port exposed to the remote connecting host i.e. NOT ip address 127.0.0.1
listen_addresses = '*'
 An authenticating rule must exist in the file pg_hba.conf
This example permits only encrypted sessions for the postgres role and denies all unencrypted session for the postgres role:
 # TYPE DATABASE USER ADDRESS METHOD
 hostssl all postgres 0.0.0.0/0 md5
 hostnossl all postgres 0.0.0.0/0 reject
The following examples illustrate other possible configurations. The resultant 'rule' of success/failure depends upon the first matching line.
# allow `postgres` user only from 'localhost/loopback' connections
# and only if you know the password
# TYPE DATABASE USER ADDRESS METHOD
host all postgres 127.0.0.1/32 md5

# allow users to connect remotely only to the database named after them,
# with the correct user password:
# (accepts both SSL and non-SSL connections)
# TYPE DATABASE USER ADDRESS METHOD
host samerole all 0.0.0.0/0 md5

# allow only those users who are a member of the 'rw' role to connect
# only to the database named after them, with the correct user password:
# (accepts both SSL and non-SSL connections)
# TYPE DATABASE USER ADDRESS METHOD
host samerole +rw 0.0.0.0/0 md5

See Also

https://workbench.cisecurity.org/files/2235

Item Details

Category: SYSTEM AND COMMUNICATIONS PROTECTION

References: 800-53|SC-8, CSCv6|14.2, CSCv7|14.4

Plugin: Unix

Control ID: 28a5d5388fa8df7197ad1a667bb495db9f539fc1f99cb909862c466cc58f12e1