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The WebSphere Application Server must be run as a non-admin user.

Overview

Finding IDVersionRule IDIA ControlsSeverity
V-81277WBSP-AS-000960SV-95991r1_ruleCCI-000381medium
Description
Running WebSphere as an admin user gives attackers immediate admin privileges in the event the WebSphere processes are compromised. Best practice is to operate the WebSphere server with an account that has limited OS privileges. To configure system startup: https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/en/SSAW57_8.5.5/com.ibm.websphere.nd.multiplatform.doc/ae/trun_processrestart.html
STIGDate
IBM WebSphere Traditional V9.x Security Technical Implementation Guide2018-08-24

Related Frameworks

1 mapping across 5 frameworks
SCF0 mappings

No source states a mapping between these directly.

Also reachable in 3 hops (2) 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.

CFG-01Configuration Management Program
1.00
CFG-03Least Functionality
1.00
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-11Device Lock
1.00
AC-17(1)Monitoring and Control
1.00
AC-17(10)Authenticate Remote Commands
1.00
AC-17(9)Disconnect or Disable Access
1.00
AC-18(1)Authentication and Encryption
1.00
AC-2(1)Automated System Account Management
1.00
AC-3Access Enforcement
1.00
AC-4Information Flow Enforcement
1.00
AU-12Audit Record Generation
1.00
AU-3Content of Audit Records
1.00

+26 more (top 10 by confidence shown)

NIST 800-1710 mappings

No source states a mapping between these directly.

Also reachable in 3 hops (1) 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.

3.4.6
1.00
CCI1 mapping
NIST CSF 2.00 mappings

No source states a mapping between these directly.

Also reachable in 3 hops (2) 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.

Who does this work

5 NICE work roles and 5 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-95991r1_chk)

Interview systems manager. Identify the OS user ID that the WAS server runs as. Using relevant OS commands review OS processes and search for WAS processes (running as Java). Ensure they are running under the assigned non-administrative user id. For UNIX: "ps -ef|grep -i websphere" For Windows: "wmic path win32_process where "caption = 'java.exe'" get CommandLine If the WebSphere processes are running as the root or administrator user, this is a finding.

Fix Text (F-88059r1_fix)

Ensure that WAS processes are started via the specified non-privileged OS user ID when running commands such as startManager, startNode, and startServer. If startManager and startNode are in the system startup scripts, ensure that they are not started as the root user or admin user for Windows systems. For example, in the UNIX system, the inittab entry may look like: "was:235:respawn:/usr/WebSphere/AppServer/bin/rc.was >/dev/console 2>&1". Ensure the user is not a root user and is instead a regular OS user.