LJK/Security Reference Manual


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MESSAGE

Determine whether generation of user message accounting records conforms to policy.

Violation reports

Constraint Nature of the violation
PROHIBITED Message accounting is enabled in violation of policy
REQUIRED Message accounting is disabled in violation of policy

Description

Use of the qualifier /ENABLE=MESSAGE with the SET ACCOUNTING command causes user message records to be written to the VMS accounting file.
Default policy Enabling of message accounting is required. Customizing Set limit REQUIRED to be FALSE to remove the general requirement that message accounting be enabled. selector

Limits

Constraint Value Default
PROHIBITED FALSE or TRUE FALSE
REQUIRED FALSE or TRUE TRUE

Exemptions

Constraint Value Parameters
PROHIBITED FALSE or TRUE <node>
REQUIRED FALSE or TRUE <node>
Practical considerations User message records are used to record application-specific information in the accounting file.

NETWORK

Determine whether generation of network process termination accounting records conforms to policy.

Violation reports

Constraint Nature of the violation
PROHIBITED Network accounting is enabled in violation of policy
REQUIRED Network accounting is disabled in violation of policy

Description

Use of the qualifier /ENABLE=NETWORK with the SET ACCOUNTING command causes process or image termination records for network jobs to be written to the VMS accounting file (only if /ENABLE=IMAGE or /ENABLE=PROCESS has also been specified).
Default policy Enabling of network accounting is required. Customizing Set limit REQUIRED to be FALSE to remove the general requirement that network accounting be enabled. selector

Limits

Constraint Value Default
PROHIBITED FALSE or TRUE FALSE
REQUIRED FALSE or TRUE TRUE

Exemptions

Constraint Value Parameters
PROHIBITED FALSE or TRUE <node>
REQUIRED FALSE or TRUE <node>
Practical considerations Accounting records provide more information regarding resource usage that logout security alarms.

PRINT

Determine whether generation of print job accounting records conforms to policy.

Violation reports

Constraint Nature of the violation
PROHIBITED Print accounting is enabled in violation of policy
REQUIRED Print accounting is disabled in violation of policy

Description

Use of the qualifier /ENABLE=PRINT with the SET ACCOUNTING command causes print job records to be written to the VMS accounting file.
Default policy Enabling of print accounting is required. Customizing Set limit REQUIRED to be FALSE to remove the general requirement that print accounting be enabled. selector

Limits

Constraint Value Default
PROHIBITED FALSE or TRUE FALSE
REQUIRED FALSE or TRUE TRUE

Exemptions

Constraint Value Parameters
PROHIBITED FALSE or TRUE <node>
REQUIRED FALSE or TRUE <node>
Practical considerations Information regarding individual print jobs is not otherwise recorded by VMS.

PROCESS

Determine whether generation of process termination accounting records conforms to policy.

Violation reports

Constraint Nature of the violation
PROHIBITED Process accounting is enabled in violation of policy
REQUIRED Process accounting is disabled in violation of policy

Description

Use of the qualifier /ENABLE=PROCESS with the SET ACCOUNTING command causes process termination records to be written to the VMS accounting file.
Default policy Enabling of process accounting is required. Customizing Set limit REQUIRED to be FALSE to remove the requirement that process accounting be enabled. selector

Limits

Constraint Value Default
PROHIBITED FALSE or TRUE FALSE
REQUIRED FALSE or TRUE TRUE

Exemptions

Constraint Value Parameters
PROHIBITED FALSE or TRUE <node>
REQUIRED FALSE or TRUE <node>
Practical considerations Recording process termination accounting records is generally accepted as a minimum requirement in cases where accounting is being used at all.

SUBPROCESS

Determine whether generation of subprocess process termination accounting records conforms to policy.

Violation reports

Constraint Nature of the violation
PROHIBITED Subprocess accounting is enabled in violation of policy
REQUIRED Subprocess accounting is disabled in violation of policy

Description

Use of the qualifier /ENABLE=SUBPROCESS with the SET ACCOUNTING command causes process or image termination records for subprocess jobs to be written to the VMS accounting file (only if /ENABLE=IMAGE or /ENABLE=PROCESS has also been specified).
Default policy Enabling of subprocess accounting is required. Customizing Set limit REQUIRED to be FALSE to remove the general requirement that subprocess accounting be enabled. selector

Limits

Constraint Value Default
PROHIBITED FALSE or TRUE FALSE
REQUIRED FALSE or TRUE TRUE

Exemptions

Constraint Value Parameters
PROHIBITED FALSE or TRUE <node>
REQUIRED FALSE or TRUE <node>
Practical considerations Accounting records provide more information regarding resource usage that logout security alarms.

6.2 AUDIT Tests

Tests in the AUDIT facility deal with parameters used to control the use of VMS security auditing features on a machine.

Exemptions are based on node name.

VMS Treatment of Alarms vs. Audits

Starting with VMS V5.4 there have been separate controls for Alarms and Audits provided by the operating system. Prior to that, the only mechanism for retaining a record of security events on disk was the Operator Log File (SYS$MANAGER:OPERATOR.LOG). While the data related to security events could be extracted with the Audit Reduction Facility command procedure (SYS$MANAGER:SECAUDIT.COM), VMS still recorded all data as Alarms (not Audits) and there was no way to separate which security events called for immediate human attention (Alarms) versus those which only needed to be recorded for possible later review (Audits).

LJK/Security Treatment of Alarms vs. Audits

Elements described in this chapter often have separate Constraints for Alarm controls and Audit controls. For example, a typical list of Constraints might be:

But since only alarms (not audits) were supported under VMS versions prior to V5.4, the AUREQUIRE constraint will often provide three choices for your security assessment requirements: The TRY value will require the control be enabled for VMS versions where it exists (V5.4 and above), but not report a violation for VMS versions where it does not exist.

The TRY value is also available for certain alarms (not audits) that were provided only in particular versions of VMS.


ACL

Determine whether auditing for events requested by access control list entries conforms to policy.

Violation reports

Constraint Nature of the violation
ALPROHIBIT ACL security alarms are enabled in violation of policy
ALREQUIRE ACL security alarms are disabled in violation of policy
AUPROHIBIT ACL security audits are enabled in violation of policy
AUREQUIRE ACL security audits are disabled in violation of policy

Description

Use of the qualifier /ENABLE=ACL with the SET AUDIT/ALARM or SET AUDIT/AUDIT command causes the corresponding reporting when any user has requested them. Users make that request by placing a Security Alarm Access Control Entry in the Access Control List of some object (file, global section, etc.).
Default policy Enabling of ACL security alarms and audits is neither prohibited nor required. Customizing Set limits TRUE to establish a general prohibition of or requirement for the enabling of ACL security auditing. Then establish exemptions for any individual nodes which are not to be subjected to the general rule. selector

Limits

Constraint Value Default
ALPROHIBIT FALSE or TRUE FALSE
ALREQUIRE FALSE or TRUE FALSE
AUPROHIBIT FALSE or TRUE FALSE
AUREQUIRE FALSE, TRUE or TRY FALSE

Exemptions

Constraint Value Parameters
ALPROHIBIT FALSE or TRUE <node>
ALREQUIRE FALSE or TRUE <node>
AUPROHIBIT FALSE or TRUE <node>
AUREQUIRE FALSE, TRUE or TRY <node>
Practical considerations Enabling ACL security alarms allows individual users the power to cause the generation of unlimited alarms, potentially swamping more significant alarms from other sources. Enabling ACL security audits allows individual users the power consume unlimited disk space in the audit logs, but typically does not cause extra work for the security officer.

AUDILLFOR

Determine whether enabling of alarms or audits for ill-formed audit events conforms to policy.

Violation reports

Constraint Nature of the violation
ALPROHIBIT Ill-formed audit security alarms are enabled in violation of policy
ALREQUIRE Ill-formed audit security alarms are disabled in violation of policy
AUPROHIBIT Ill-formed audit security audits are enabled in violation of policy
AUREQUIRE Ill-formed audit security audits are disabled in violation of policy

Description

Use of the qualifier /ENABLE=AUDIT=ILLFORMED with the SET AUDIT/ALARM or SET AUDIT/AUDIT command causes the corresponding reporting when an ill-formed call to cause an audit is made by an internal VMS component.
Default policy Enabling of Ill-formed audit security alarms and audits is neither prohibited nor required. Customizing Set limits TRUE to establish a general prohibition of or requirement for the enabling of Ill-formed audit security alarms or audits. Then establish exemptions for any individual nodes which are not to be subjected to the general rule. selector

Limits

Constraint Value Default
ALPROHIBIT FALSE or TRUE FALSE
ALREQUIRE FALSE, TRUE or TRY FALSE
AUPROHIBIT FALSE or TRUE FALSE
AUREQUIRE FALSE, TRUE or TRY FALSE

Exemptions

Constraint Value Parameters
ALPROHIBIT FALSE or TRUE <node>
ALREQUIRE FALSE, TRUE or TRY <node>
AUPROHIBIT FALSE or TRUE <node>
AUREQUIRE FALSE, TRUE or TRY <node>
Practical considerations The corresponding audits and alarms are enabled on VMS by default, and cause no extra burden on a properly running system.

AUDIT

Determine whether auditing for events resulting from the SET AUDIT command conforms to policy.

Violation reports

Constraint Nature of the violation
ALPROHIBIT Audit security alarms are enabled in violation of policy
ALREQUIRE Audit security alarms are disabled in violation of policy
AUPROHIBIT Audit security audits are enabled in violation of policy
AUREQUIRE Audit security audits are disabled in violation of policy

Description

Use of the qualifier /ENABLE=AUDIT with the SET AUDIT/ALARM or SET AUDIT/AUDIT command causes the corresponding reporting when the SET AUDIT command is used.

Effective with VMS V5.2, such alarms are always generated, and are not controlled by the SET AUDIT command.

Default policy Enabling of Audit security alarms and audits is required. Customizing Set limit ALREQUIRE FALSE to remove the requirement for the enabling of Audit security alarms.

Set limit ALPROHIBIT TRUE to prohibit the enabling of Audit security alarms on versions of VMS prior V6.0. On VMS V6.0 and later there is no way to disable the auditing of the SET AUDIT command. If you are running mixed versions of VMS and want to prohibit the auditing of SET AUDIT on whatever versions where it is possible, set limit AUPROHIBIT to the value TRY. selector

Limits

Constraint Value Default
ALPROHIBIT FALSE, TRUE or TRY FALSE
ALREQUIRE FALSE or TRUE TRUE
AUPROHIBIT FALSE, TRUE or TRY FALSE
AUREQUIRE FALSE, TRUE or TRY TRUE

Exemptions

Constraint Value Parameters
ALPROHIBIT FALSE, TRUE or TRY <node>
ALREQUIRE FALSE or TRUE <node>
AUPROHIBIT FALSE, TRUE or TRY <node>
AUREQUIRE FALSE, TRUE or TRY <node>
Practical considerations The recording of Audit events is essential to verify the completeness of other events which are recorded.

AUTHENT

Determine whether enabling of alarms or audits for authentication events conforms to policy.

Violation reports

Constraint Nature of the violation
ALPROHIBIT Authentication security alarms are enabled in violation of policy
ALREQUIRE Authentication security alarms are disabled in violation of policy
AUPROHIBIT Authentication security audits are enabled in violation of policy
AUREQUIRE Authentication security audits are disabled in violation of policy

Description

The corresponding auditing is not supported as of VMS V7.3.
Default policy Enabling of Authentication security alarms and audits is neither prohibited nor required. Customizing Set limits TRUE to establish a general prohibition of or requirement for the enabling of Authentication security alarms or audits. Then establish exemptions for any individual nodes which are not to be subjected to the general rule. selector

Limits

Constraint Value Default
ALPROHIBIT FALSE or TRUE FALSE
ALREQUIRE FALSE, TRUE or TRY FALSE
AUPROHIBIT FALSE or TRUE FALSE
AUREQUIRE FALSE, TRUE or TRY FALSE

Exemptions

Constraint Value Parameters
ALPROHIBIT FALSE or TRUE <node>
ALREQUIRE FALSE, TRUE or TRY <node>
AUPROHIBIT FALSE or TRUE <node>
AUREQUIRE FALSE, TRUE or TRY <node>
Practical considerations As of V7.3 VMS does not provide a method to enable auditing or alarms for these events.


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