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NSEC3 must be used for all internal DNS zones.

Overview

Finding IDVersionRule IDIA ControlsSeverity
V-279962SRG-APP-000435-DNS-000084SV-279962r1156995_ruleCCI-002385medium
Description
To ensure that RRs associated with a query are really missing in a zone file and have not been removed in transit, the DNSSEC mechanism provides a means for authenticating the nonexistence of an RR. It generates a special RR called an NSEC (or NSEC3) RR that lists the RRTypes associated with an owner name as well as the next name in the zone file. It sends this special RR, along with its signatures, to the resolving name server. By verifying the signature, a DNSSEC-aware resolving name server can determine which authoritative owner name exists in a zone and which authoritative RRTypes exist at those owner names. IETF's design criteria consider DNS data to be public. Confidentiality is not one of the security goals of DNSSEC. DNSSEC is not designed to directly protect against denial-of-service threats but does so indirectly by providing message integrity and source authentication. An artifact of how DNSSEC performs negative responses allows a client to map all the names in a zone (zone walking). A zone which contains zone data that the administrator does not want to be made public should use the NSEC3 RR option for providing authenticated denial of existence. If DNSSEC is enabled for a server, the ability to verify a particular server which may attempt to update the DNS server actually exists. This is done through the use of NSEC3 records to provide an "authenticated denial of existence" for specific systems whose addresses indicate that they lie within a particular zone.
STIGDate
Domain Name System (DNS) Security Requirements Guide2025-12-19

Related Frameworks

1 mapping across 4 frameworks
SCF0 mappings

No source states a mapping between these directly.

Also reachable in 3 hops (13) derived by us, not asserted by any source

Each of these is a route we composed by chaining published mappings. No publisher states a relationship between the two endpoints.

MON-01Continuous Monitoring
1.00
MON-01.1Intrusion Detection & Prevention Systems (IDS & IPS)
1.00
MON-01.3Inbound & Outbound Communications Traffic
1.00
MON-01.4System Generated Alerts
1.00
MON-01.8Security Event Monitoring
1.00
NET-01Network Security Controls (NSC)
1.00
NET-02Layered Network Defenses
1.00
SEA-01Secure Engineering Principles
1.00
SEA-02Alignment With Enterprise Architecture
1.00
CAP-01Capacity & Performance Management
0.50

+3 more (top 10 by confidence shown)

NIST 800-530 mappings

No source states a mapping between these directly.

Also reachable in 2 hops (36) derived by us, not asserted by any source

Each of these is a route we composed by chaining published mappings. No publisher states a relationship between the two endpoints.

AC-10Concurrent Session Control
1.00
AC-17(9)Disconnect or Disable Access
1.00
AC-2(4)Automated Audit Actions
1.00
AC-3Access Enforcement
1.00
AC-4Information Flow Enforcement
1.00
AC-6(9)Log Use of Privileged Functions
1.00
AU-12Audit Record Generation
1.00
AU-3Content of Audit Records
1.00
AU-5Response to Audit Logging Process Failures
1.00
CM-11(2)Software Installation with Privileged Status
1.00

+26 more (top 10 by confidence shown)

CCI1 mapping
CCI-002385
1.00
NIST CSF 2.00 mappings

No source states a mapping between these directly.

Also reachable in 3 hops (3) derived by us, not asserted by any source

Each of these is a route we composed by chaining published mappings. No publisher states a relationship between the two endpoints.

DE.CM-01
1.00
PR.IR-01
1.00
PR.IR-04
0.50

Who does this work

12 NICE work roles and 9 EC-Council certifications.

This is an inference across published mappings, not a single claim by anyone. This check maps to a control, which maps to a Cybersecurity Framework outcome, which NIST assigns to the work roles below. EC-Council separately maps its certifications to those same roles.

A certification prepares someone for a role. It is not evidence that a holder is qualified, and neither NIST nor EC-Council has stated that any certification here addresses this check.

Work-role assignments published by NIST (NICE Framework Components 2.2.0 and the CSF 2.0 OLIR crosswalk). Certification mappings published by EC-Council.

Details

Check Text (C-279962r1156995_chk)

Review the zone file's configuration for internal zones and confirm the NSEC3 RR option is used to provide authenticated denial of existence. If the NSEC3 RR option is not used for internal zones, this is a finding.

Fix Text (F-84428r1156994_fix)

Configure all internal zones to use the NSEC3 RR option for authenticated denial of existence.