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The Palo Alto Networks security platform must block phone home traffic.

Overview

Finding IDVersionRule IDIA ControlsSeverity
V-228843PANW-AG-000049SV-228843r997591_ruleCCI-001094medium
Description
A variety of Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks and other attacks use "botnets" as an attack vector. A botnet is a collection of software agents (referred to as "bot"), residing on compromised computers. Attacks are orchestrated by a "bot herder" to command these agents to launch attacks. Part of the command and control communication between the controller and the bots is a message sent from a bot that informs the controller that it is operating. This is referred to as a "phone home" message. On the Palo Alto Networks security platform, a security policy can include an Anti-spyware Profile for “phone home” detection (detection of traffic from installed spyware). The device has two pre-configured Anti-spyware Profiles; Default and Strict. The Default Anti-spyware Profile sends an alert for detected phone-home traffic for all severity levels except the low and informational severity threat levels, while the Strict Anti-spyware Profile blocks phone-home traffic for the critical, high, and medium severity threat levels. Phone home traffic must either be blocked or intercepted by the DNS Sinkholing feature. Therefore, a custom Anti-spyware Profile or the Strict Anti-spyware Profile must be used instead of the Default Anti-spyware Profile. Note that there are specific implementation requirements for DNS Sinkholing to operate properly; refer to the Palo Alto Networks documentation for details.
STIGDate
Palo Alto Networks ALG Security Technical Implementation Guide2025-03-12

Related Frameworks

2 mappings 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 (20) 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-3Access Enforcement
1.00
AC-4Information Flow Enforcement
1.00
AC-6(10)Prohibit Non-privileged Users from Executing Privileged Functions
1.00
AC-6(8)Privilege Levels for Code Execution
1.00
CM-11(2)Software Installation with Privileged Status
1.00
CM-5(1)Automated Access Enforcement and Audit Records
1.00
CM-5(6)Limit Library Privileges
1.00
CM-6Configuration Settings
1.00
CM-7Least Functionality
1.00

+10 more (top 10 by confidence shown)

CCI2 mappings
CCI-001094
1.00
CCI-004866
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-228843r997591_chk)

Ask the Administrator which Anti-Spyware profile is used: Go to Objects >> Security Profiles >> Anti-Spyware. Select the Anti-Spyware Profile. In the "Anti-Spyware Profile" window, in the "DNS Signatures" tab, in the Action on "DNS queries" field, if either "block" or "sinkhole" is not selected, this is a finding. Ask the Administrator which Security Policy Rule allows traffic from client hosts in the trust zone to the untrust zone: Go to Policies >> Security. Select the identified policy rule. View the "Security Policy Rule" window. Select the "Actions" tab. In the "Profile Setting" section, in the "Anti-Spyware" field, if there is no Anti-Spyware Profile or the Anti-Spyware Profile is not the correct one, this is a finding.

Fix Text (F-31055r997590_fix)

Go to Objects >> Security Profiles >> Anti-Spyware. Select the name of a configured Anti-Spyware Profile or select "Add" to create a new one. In the "Anti-Spyware Profile" window, in the "DNS Signatures" tab, in the Action on "DNS queries" field, select "block" or "sinkhole". If "sinkhole" is selected, complete the "Sinkhole IPv4" and "Sinkhole IPv6" fields. Note: If DNS Sinkholing is used, the device and network must be configured to support it. If this is a new Anti-Spyware Profile, complete the required fields in all tabs. Select "OK". Use the Anti-Spyware Profile in a Security Policy; Edit the Security Policy Rule that allows traffic from client hosts in the trust zone to the untrust zone to include the sinkhole zone as a destination and attach the Anti-spyware Profile. Select or configure a rule that allows traffic from the client host zone to the untrust zone. Go to Policies >> Security. Select the appropriate existing policy rule or select "Add" to create a new one. In the "Actions" tab in the "Profile Setting" section; in the "Profile Type" field, select "Profiles". The window will change to display the different categories of Profiles. In the "Actions" tab in the "Profile Setting" section; in the "Anti-Spyware" field, select the configured Anti-Spyware Profile. Select "OK". Commit changes by selecting "Commit" in the upper-right corner of the screen. Select "OK" when the confirmation dialog appears.