SQLI-22-019500 - SQL Server must, for password-based authentication, require immediate selection of a new password upon account recovery.

Information

Password-based authentication applies to passwords regardless of whether they are used in single-factor or multifactor authentication. Long passwords or passphrases are preferable over shorter passwords. Enforced composition rules provide marginal security benefits while decreasing usability. However, organizations may choose to establish certain rules for password generation (e.g., minimum character length for long passwords) under certain circumstances and can enforce this requirement in IA-5(1)(h). Account recovery can occur, for example, in situations when a password is forgotten. Cryptographically protected passwords include salted one-way cryptographic hashes of passwords. The list of commonly used, compromised, or expected passwords includes passwords obtained from previous breach corpuses, dictionary words, and repetitive or sequential characters. The list includes context-specific words, such as the name of the service, username, and derivatives thereof.

Solution

Configure the DBMS to require immediate selection of a new password for accounts using SQL login upon account recovery.

Ensure all scripts, functions, triggers, and stored procedures used to create a user or reset a user's password for SQL logins include a line similar to the following password_option:

MUST_CHANGE

If MUST_CHANGE is specified, CHECK_EXPIRATION and CHECK_POLICY must be set to ON. Otherwise, the statement will fail.

More information can be found at https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/t-sql/statements/alter-login-transact-sql?view=sql-server-ver16.

See Also

https://dl.dod.cyber.mil/wp-content/uploads/stigs/zip/U_MS_SQL_Server_2022_Y26M01_STIG.zip

Item Details

Category: IDENTIFICATION AND AUTHENTICATION

References: 800-53|IA-5(1)(e), CAT|II, CCI|CCI-004063, Rule-ID|SV-271400r1167497_rule, STIG-ID|SQLI-22-019500, Vuln-ID|V-271400

Plugin: MS_SQLDB

Control ID: 1e868b0db9dfbbee7e81e843b5f0f0b98893d444a06378b91785250da82c7671