The F5 BIG-IP appliance providing user access control intermediary services must implement attribute- and content-based inspection of the source, destination, headers, and/or content of the communications traffic.

Severity	Group ID	Group Title	Version	Rule ID	Date	STIG Version
high	V-266144	SRG-NET-000018-ALG-000017	F5BI-AP-300013	SV-266144r1024371_rule	2024-09-20	1

Description
Information flow control regulates where information is allowed to travel within a network. The flow of all network traffic must be monitored and controlled so it does not introduce any unacceptable risk to the network infrastructure or data. Information flow control policies and enforcement mechanisms are commonly employed by organizations to control the flow of information between designated sources and destinations (e.g., networks, individuals, devices) within information systems. Examples of information flow control restrictions include keeping export controlled information from being transmitted in the clear to the internet or blocking information marked as classified but is being transported to an unapproved destination. ALGs enforce approved authorizations by employing security policy and/or rules that restrict information system services, provide packet filtering capability based on header or protocol information and/or message filtering capability based on data content (e.g., implementing key word searches or using document characteristics). Satisfies: SRG-NET-000018-ALG-000017, SRG-NET-000019-ALG-000018

Description

Information flow control regulates where information is allowed to travel within a network. The flow of all network traffic must be monitored and controlled so it does not introduce any unacceptable risk to the network infrastructure or data. Information flow control policies and enforcement mechanisms are commonly employed by organizations to control the flow of information between designated sources and destinations (e.g., networks, individuals, devices) within information systems. Examples of information flow control restrictions include keeping export controlled information from being transmitted in the clear to the internet or blocking information marked as classified but is being transported to an unapproved destination. ALGs enforce approved authorizations by employing security policy and/or rules that restrict information system services, provide packet filtering capability based on header or protocol information and/or message filtering capability based on data content (e.g., implementing key word searches or using document characteristics). Satisfies: SRG-NET-000018-ALG-000017, SRG-NET-000019-ALG-000018

ℹ️ Check
From the BIG-IP GUI: 1. Security. 2. Network Firewall. 3. Active Rules. 4. Verify "Policy Type" is set to "Enforced". 5. Inspect the different "Context" choices and verify rules are configured to enforce approved authorizations for controlling the flow of information within the network. If the BIG-IP appliance is not configured to enforce approved authorizations for controlling the flow of information within the network based on attribute- and content-based inspection of the source, destination, headers, and/or content of the communications traffic, this is a finding.

ℹ️ Check

From the BIG-IP GUI: 1. Security. 2. Network Firewall. 3. Active Rules. 4. Verify "Policy Type" is set to "Enforced". 5. Inspect the different "Context" choices and verify rules are configured to enforce approved authorizations for controlling the flow of information within the network. If the BIG-IP appliance is not configured to enforce approved authorizations for controlling the flow of information within the network based on attribute- and content-based inspection of the source, destination, headers, and/or content of the communications traffic, this is a finding.

✔️ Fix
From the BIG-IP GUI: 1. Security. 2. Network Firewall. 3. Policies. 4. Create and/or edit firewall policies that are applied to the Context needed to enforce approved authorizations for controlling the flow of information within the network.