Filestream must be disabled, unless specifically required and approved.

Severity	Group ID	Group Title	Version	Rule ID	Date	STIG Version
medium	V-214034	SRG-APP-000141-DB-000093	SQL6-D0-016800	SV-214034r960963_rule	2025-02-12	3

Description
Information systems are capable of providing a wide variety of functions and services. Some of the functions and services, provided by default, may not be necessary to support essential organizational operations (e.g., key missions, functions). It is detrimental for applications to provide, or install by default, functionality exceeding requirements or mission objectives. Applications must adhere to the principles of least functionality by providing only essential capabilities. The most significant potential for attacking an instance is through the use of features that expose an external interface or ad hoc execution capability. FILESTREAM integrates the SQL Server Database Engine with an NTFS file system by storing varbinary(max) binary large object (BLOB) data as files on the file system. Transact-SQL statements can insert, update, query, search, and back up FILESTREAM data.

Description

Information systems are capable of providing a wide variety of functions and services. Some of the functions and services, provided by default, may not be necessary to support essential organizational operations (e.g., key missions, functions). It is detrimental for applications to provide, or install by default, functionality exceeding requirements or mission objectives. Applications must adhere to the principles of least functionality by providing only essential capabilities. The most significant potential for attacking an instance is through the use of features that expose an external interface or ad hoc execution capability. FILESTREAM integrates the SQL Server Database Engine with an NTFS file system by storing varbinary(max) binary large object (BLOB) data as files on the file system. Transact-SQL statements can insert, update, query, search, and back up FILESTREAM data.

ℹ️ Check
Review the system documentation to see if FileStream is in use. If in use authorized, this is not a finding. If FileStream is not documented as being authorized, execute the following query. EXEC sp_configure 'filestream access level' If "run_value" is greater than "0", this is a finding. This rule checks that Filestream SQL specific option is disabled. SELECT CASE WHEN EXISTS (SELECT * FROM sys.configurations WHERE Name = 'filestream access level' AND Cast(value AS INT) = 0) THEN 'No' ELSE 'Yes' END AS TSQLFileStreamAccess; If the above query returns "Yes" in the "FileStreamEnabled" field, this is a finding.

ℹ️ Check

Review the system documentation to see if FileStream is in use. If in use authorized, this is not a finding. If FileStream is not documented as being authorized, execute the following query. EXEC sp_configure 'filestream access level' If "run_value" is greater than "0", this is a finding. This rule checks that Filestream SQL specific option is disabled. SELECT CASE WHEN EXISTS (SELECT * FROM sys.configurations WHERE Name = 'filestream access level' AND Cast(value AS INT) = 0) THEN 'No' ELSE 'Yes' END AS TSQLFileStreamAccess; If the above query returns "Yes" in the "FileStreamEnabled" field, this is a finding.

✔️ Fix
Disable the use of Filestream. 1. Delete all FILESTREAM columns from all tables. ALTER TABLE <name> DROP COLUMN <column name> 2. Disassociate tables from the FILESTREAM filegroups. ALTER TABLE <name> SET (FILESTREAM_ON = 'NULL' 3. Remove all FILESTREAM data containers. ALTER DATABASE <name> REMOVE FILE <file name> 4. Remove all FILESTREAM filegroups. ALTER DATABASE <name> REMOVE FILEGROUP <file name>. 5. Disable FILESTREAM. EXEC sp_configure filestream_access_level, 0 RECONFIGURE 6. Restart the SQL Service

✔️ Fix

Disable the use of Filestream. 1. Delete all FILESTREAM columns from all tables. ALTER TABLE <name> DROP COLUMN <column name> 2. Disassociate tables from the FILESTREAM filegroups. ALTER TABLE <name> SET (FILESTREAM_ON = 'NULL' 3. Remove all FILESTREAM data containers. ALTER DATABASE <name> REMOVE FILE <file name> 4. Remove all FILESTREAM filegroups. ALTER DATABASE <name> REMOVE FILEGROUP <file name>. 5. Disable FILESTREAM. EXEC sp_configure filestream_access_level, 0 RECONFIGURE 6. Restart the SQL Service