cis-cassandra41-3-6

name	cis-cassandra41-3.6
description	Ensure that Data Center Authorizations is activated
category	cis-cassandra
version	1.0.0
author	cyberstrike-official
tags	["cis","cassandra","access-control","datacenter","authorization"]
cis_id	3.6
cis_benchmark	CIS Apache Cassandra 4.1 Benchmark v1.0.0
tech_stack	["cassandra"]
cwe_ids	[]
chains_with	[]
prerequisites	[]
severity_boost	{}

3.6 Ensure that Data Center Authorizations is activated

Profile Applicability

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

Description

Authorization at Data Center level is pluggable in Cassandra and is configured using the network_authorizer setting in cassandra.yaml. Cassandra ships with AllowAllNetworkAuthorizer which allows any role to access any datacenter effectively disabling datacenter authorization; which is the current behavior.

It should be set to CassandraNetworkAuthorizer which allows the ability to store permissions which restrict role access to specific datacenters.

Rationale

The network_authorizer parameter in the cassandra.yaml file allows an operator to restrict the access of a Cassandra role to specific datacenters. Keep in mind that for this to work correctly, the authenticator setting in cassandra.yaml file must be set to PasswordAuthenticator.

Audit

Run the following command to verify whether network authorization is enabled (network_authorizer value set to CassandraNetworkAuthorizer) on the Cassandra server. The Cassandra configuration files can be found in the conf directory of tarballs. For packages, the configuration files will be located in /etc/cassandra.

cat cassandra.yaml | grep -in "network_authorizer:"

Remediation

1. Stop the Cassandra database on each node.
2. Modify the cassandra.yaml file to modify entry for network_authorizer: set it to CassandraNetworkAuthorizer
3. Start the Cassandra database.

Default Value

network_authorizer: AllowAllNetworkAuthorizer

References

1. http://cassandra.apache.org/doc/latest/getting_started/configuring.html
2. http://cassandra.apache.org/doc/latest/operating/security.html

CIS Controls

v8:

• 16.11 Leverage Vetted Modules or Services for Application Security Components
  • Leverage vetted modules or services for application security components, such as identity management, encryption, and auditing and logging. Using platform features in critical security functions will reduce developers' workload and minimize the likelihood of design or implementation errors. Modern operating systems provide effective mechanisms for identification, authentication, and authorization and make those mechanisms available to applications. Use only standardized, currently accepted, and extensively reviewed encryption algorithms. Operating systems also provide mechanisms to create and maintain secure audit logs.