cis-cassandra41-3-3

name	cis-cassandra41-3.3
description	Ensure there are no unnecessary roles or excessive privileges
category	cis-cassandra
version	1.0.0
author	cyberstrike-official
tags	["cis","cassandra","access-control","roles","privileges","least-privilege"]
cis_id	3.3
cis_benchmark	CIS Apache Cassandra 4.1 Benchmark v1.0.0
tech_stack	["cassandra"]
cwe_ids	[]
chains_with	[]
prerequisites	[]
severity_boost	{}

3.3 Ensure there are no unnecessary roles or excessive privileges

Profile Applicability

• Level 1 - Cassandra
• Level 1 - Cassandra on Linux

Description

Verify each role is require and has only the privileges needed to do its job.

Rationale

Roles which are unneeded, have super user or other potentially excessive privileges may be an avenue for a hacker to gain access to or modify data in the database.

Audit

As a superuser, retrieve all roles:

list roles;

Retrieve all permissions for all roles

select * from system_auth.role_permissions;

If there are any unnecessary roles or roles with excessive privileges this is a finding.

Remediation

Remove any unnecessary roles and/or permissions in accordance with organizational needs.

Default Value

Only the cassandra superuser role exists by default.

References

1. http://cassandra.apache.org/doc/latest/cql/security.html

CIS Controls

v8:

• 6.8 Define and Maintain Role-Based Access Control
  • Define and maintain role-based access control, through determining and documenting the access rights necessary for each role within the enterprise to successfully carry out its assigned duties. Perform access control reviews of enterprise assets to validate that all privileges are authorized, on a recurring schedule at a minimum annually, or more frequently.

v7:

• 14.6 Protect Information through Access Control Lists
  • Protect all information stored on systems with file system, network share, claims, application, or database specific access control lists. These controls will enforce the principle that only authorized individuals should have access to the information based on their need to access the information as a part of their responsibilities.

Profile

• Level 1 | Manual