Azure SQL DB must generate audit records when unsuccessful attempts to modify privileges/permissions occur.

Severity	Group ID	Group Title	Version	Rule ID	Date	STIG Version
medium	V-255357	SRG-APP-000495-DB-000329	ASQL-00-013600	SV-255357r961800_rule	2024-09-04	2

Description
Failed attempts to change the permissions, privileges, and roles granted to users and roles must be tracked. Without an audit trail, unauthorized attempts to elevate or restrict privileges could go undetected. In an SQL environment, modifying permissions is typically done via the GRANT, REVOKE, and DENY commands. To aid in diagnosis, it is necessary to keep track of failed attempts in addition to the successful ones.

Description

Failed attempts to change the permissions, privileges, and roles granted to users and roles must be tracked. Without an audit trail, unauthorized attempts to elevate or restrict privileges could go undetected. In an SQL environment, modifying permissions is typically done via the GRANT, REVOKE, and DENY commands. To aid in diagnosis, it is necessary to keep track of failed attempts in addition to the successful ones.

ℹ️ Check
Review Azure SQL Database configuration to verify that audit records are produced when unsuccessful attempts to modify privileges/permissions occur. To determine if an audit is configured, execute the following script. Run this TSQL command to determine if SQL Auditing AuditActionGroups are configured: SELECT DISTINCT sd.audit_action_name FROM sys.database_audit_specification_details sd JOIN sys.database_audit_specifications s ON s.database_specification_id = sd.database_specification_id WHERE (name = 'SqlDbAuditing_ServerAuditSpec' /Server Audit/ OR name = 'SqlDbAuditing_AuditSpec') /Database Audit/ AND s.is_state_enabled = 1 ORDER BY sd.audit_action_name If no values exist for AuditActionGroup, this is a finding. Verify the following AuditActionGroup(s) are configured: DATABASE_OBJECT_OWNERSHIP_CHANGE_GROUP DATABASE_OBJECT_PERMISSION_CHANGE_GROUP DATABASE_OWNERSHIP_CHANGE_GROUP DATABASE_PERMISSION_CHANGE_GROUP DATABASE_ROLE_MEMBER_CHANGE_GROUP SCHEMA_OBJECT_OWNERSHIP_CHANGE_GROUP SCHEMA_OBJECT_PERMISSION_CHANGE_GROUP If any listed AuditActionGroups do not exist in the configuration, this is a finding.

ℹ️ Check

Review Azure SQL Database configuration to verify that audit records are produced when unsuccessful attempts to modify privileges/permissions occur. To determine if an audit is configured, execute the following script. Run this TSQL command to determine if SQL Auditing AuditActionGroups are configured: SELECT DISTINCT sd.audit_action_name FROM sys.database_audit_specification_details sd JOIN sys.database_audit_specifications s ON s.database_specification_id = sd.database_specification_id WHERE (name = 'SqlDbAuditing_ServerAuditSpec' /*Server Audit*/ OR name = 'SqlDbAuditing_AuditSpec') /*Database Audit*/ AND s.is_state_enabled = 1 ORDER BY sd.audit_action_name If no values exist for AuditActionGroup, this is a finding. Verify the following AuditActionGroup(s) are configured: DATABASE_OBJECT_OWNERSHIP_CHANGE_GROUP DATABASE_OBJECT_PERMISSION_CHANGE_GROUP DATABASE_OWNERSHIP_CHANGE_GROUP DATABASE_PERMISSION_CHANGE_GROUP DATABASE_ROLE_MEMBER_CHANGE_GROUP SCHEMA_OBJECT_OWNERSHIP_CHANGE_GROUP SCHEMA_OBJECT_PERMISSION_CHANGE_GROUP If any listed AuditActionGroups do not exist in the configuration, this is a finding.

✔️ Fix
Deploy an Azure SQL Database audit. Refer to the supplemental file "AzureSQLDatabaseAudit.txt" PowerShell script. Reference: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/module/az.sql/set-azsqlserveraudit">https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/module/az.sql/set-azsqlserveraudit