CIS-CATUsersGuide 000 PDF
CIS-CATUsersGuide 000 PDF
CIS-CAT
Users Guide
v3.0.01
May 1, 2014
Table of Contents
Overview .................................................................................................................................................................. 3
System Requirements ......................................................................................................................................................3
Supported Benchmarks ...................................................................................................................................................3
Obtaining CIS-CAT .............................................................................................................................................................4
Installing CIS-CAT ..............................................................................................................................................................5
CIS-CAT Support .................................................................................................................................................................5
Using CIS-CAT within a Graphical User Interface (GUI) ........................................................................ 6
Configuring Result Location ..........................................................................................................................................6
Choosing a Benchmark and Profile .............................................................................................................................8
Report Generation Options ......................................................................................................................................... 11
Evaluating a Benchmark .............................................................................................................................................. 13
Creating a CIS-CAT Dashboard .................................................................................................................................. 14
Ad-Hoc Report Generation .......................................................................................................................................... 17
Updating Vulnerability Definitions .......................................................................................................................... 19
Using CIS-CAT within a Command Line Interface (CLI) ...................................................................... 22
Listing Available Benchmarks.................................................................................................................................... 23
Choosing a Benchmark and Profile .......................................................................................................................... 24
Running a specific Benchmark and Profile ........................................................................................................... 25
Evaluating a Data Stream Collection, Data Stream, Collection and Profile............................................... 25
Data Stream Collection Only .................................................................................................................................. 25
Data Stream Collection and Data Stream .......................................................................................................... 25
Data Stream Collection, Data Stream, and Checklist .................................................................................... 26
Data Stream Collection, Data Stream , Checklist, and Profile .................................................................... 26
Data Stream Collection, Data Stream, and Definitions ................................................................................ 26
Displaying Status Information during Evaluation.............................................................................................. 26
Accepting Terms of Use ................................................................................................................................................ 27
Reset CIS-CAT Preferences.......................................................................................................................................... 27
Configuring Result Location ....................................................................................................................................... 27
Configuring Report Name ............................................................................................................................................ 27
Configuring Report Output ......................................................................................................................................... 28
Creating a CIS-CAT Dashboard .................................................................................................................................. 28
Uploading a CIS-CAT Results File ............................................................................................................................. 28
Vulnerability Assessment ............................................................................................................................................ 29
Updating Vulnerability Definitions .......................................................................................................................... 29
Ad-Hoc Report Generation .......................................................................................................................................... 29
Interpreting Evaluation Results .................................................................................................................... 30
Summary of Results ....................................................................................................................................................... 30
Assessments Results ...................................................................................................................................................... 31
Assessment Details......................................................................................................................................................... 32
Assessing Multiple Windows Targets ......................................................................................................... 33
Prerequisites..................................................................................................................................................................... 33
Setup .................................................................................................................................................................................... 33
Create CIS Share on the CIS Hosting Server ..................................................................................................... 33
Security Considerations........................................................................................................................................... 34
Update cis-cat-centralized.bat .............................................................................................................................. 34
Validate the Install ..................................................................................................................................................... 35
Configuring the Scheduled Task via Group Policy......................................................................................... 35
Bandwidth Considerations ..................................................................................................................................... 37
Benchmark Considerations .................................................................................................................................... 37
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Overview
CIS-CAT is a configuration assessment software tool available to CIS Members as a benefit of
membership. Written in Java, CIS-CAT:
a) reads those CIS Benchmarks that are expressed in XCCDF (XML) format;
b) reports the configuration status of a target system as compared to the technical controls
defined in those CIS Benchmarks; and
c) provides a comparative score based on a conformity scale of 0-100.
CIS-CAT can operate as a command line interface (CLI) or GUI tool. CIS-CAT will assess the
configuration posture of the local system only. CIS-CAT cannot currently be used to scan a remote
target or network.
System Requirements
CIS-CAT requires a Java Runtime Environment (JRE) v1.6.0 or later. The tool and the JRE can reside
on the target system of evaluation or on a removable or network drive, provided it is accessible
from the target of evaluation. CIS-CAT will operate on Microsoft Windows XP and greater; Sun
Solaris, IBM AIX, HP-UX, and Linux platforms provided the JRE is accessible to it.
Note: CIS-CAT must be executed as root, Administrator, or an equivalently privileged principal.
Supported Benchmarks
CIS-CAT reads:
a) 36 CIS Benchmarks currently available in XCCDF;
b) XCCDF configuration files distributed by NIST for Microsoft Win XP and Vista,
c) user-modified CIS Benchmark XCCDF files,
d) XCCDF configuration files distributed by DISA (Windows 2008 version 6, Windows XP
version 6, Windows 2003 version 6, Windows Vista version 6 and Windows 7 version 1), and
e) USGCB content for Windows 7 version 1.1.X.0. .
f) USGCB Tier IV SCAP 1.2 content for
a. Microsoft Internet Explorer 7
b. Microsoft Internet Explorer 8
c. Microsoft Windows 7 (32 and 64-bit)
d. Microsoft Windows Vista
e. Microsoft Windows XP Pro Service Pack 3
f. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 (32 and 64-bit)
CIS currently distributes CIS-CAT with production version support for the following 37
benchmarks:
CIS Apache Tomcat 5.5-6.0 Benchmark v1.0.0
CIS Apple OSX 10.5 Benchmark v.1.1.0
CIS Apple OSX 10.6 Benchmark v.1.0.0
CIS CentOS Linux 6 Benchmark v1.0.0
CIS Debian Linux 3 Benchmark v1.0.0
CIS HP-UX 11i Benchmark v1.4.2
CIS IBM AIX 4.3-5.1 Benchmark v1.0.1
CIS IBM AIX 5.3-6.1 Benchmark v1.1.0
CIS IBM AIX 7.1 Benchmark v1.1.0
CIS Microsoft Internet Explorer 10 Benchmark v1.0.0*
CIS Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Database Engine Benchmark v1.0.0*
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NOTE: Those benchmarks denoted with an asterisk (*) utilize XCCDF with the OVAL checking
language. See OVAL Implementation for more information regarding OVAL.
Obtaining CIS-CAT
CIS-CAT is distributed exclusively from the CIS member web site, https://community.cisecurity.org.
CIS-CAT documentation, XCCDF benchmarks, supplemental scripts, and the scoring tool are
contained in a single bundle. The structure of this bundle is detailed below:
Location
/benchmarks
/custom/brand
/docs
/misc
/lib
CISCAT.jar
CIS-CAT.sh
CIS-CAT.bat
cis-catcentralized.bat
Description
Contains all XCCDF Benchmarks
Placeholder for member-created CSS and graphics for customized
branding of HTML Reports generated by CIS-CAT.
Contains User Documentation
Contains XSDs and supplemental batch files
Contains Libraries used by CIS-CAT
The CIS-CAT Java Archive
A UNIX/Linux Wrapper for CIS-CAT.jar. Useful for CLI mode.
A Windows Wrapper for CIS-CAT.jar. Useful for CLI mode.
A Windows batch file that wraps CIS-CAT.jar to simply evaluating
targets that lack a local instance of the JRE and CIS-CAT.
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Installing CIS-CAT
To install CIS-CAT, simply unzip the archive. No further action is required provided JRE v1.5.0+ is
installed on the system. If the JRE is available on removable media or via a network share, perform
the following steps to get CIS-CAT running:
1. Insert or mount the removable media or network drive. For demonstration purposes, we
will assume the JRE is accessible via /mnt/jre on Linux/Unix platforms and \\server\jre
on Windows platforms.
2. Map the JAVA_HOME environment variable to the location noted above. From a command
prompt or shell, execute the following to create this mapping:
Windows> set JAVA_HOME=\\server\jre
Unix> export JAVA_HOME=/mnt/jre
Once the above is complete, CIS-CAT is ready to go. To run CIS-CAT execute the following:
Windows> CIS-CAT.bat
Unix> ./CIS-CAT.sh
Note: the first time CIS-CAT is ran on a Unix machine the shell script might need to execute
permissions to do this run the following command:
chmod +x CIS-CAT.sh
CIS-CAT Support
If you have questions, comments, or are experiencing trouble using CIS-CAT, please email
[email protected]. CIS has also established a community forum designed to foster
collaboration around CIS-CAT. It is recommended that this resource be reviewed when
troubleshooting CIS-CAT.
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Location
%HOMEDRIVE%%HOMEPATH%\My Documents\CIS-CAT Results
$HOME/CIS-CAT_Results
Note: if the default location is used each assessment report(s) will be placed in a new time stamped
directory under the default location.
To change the report location, click Options -> Set Result Location and browse to the desired
directory, as seen below:
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Value
HKEY_CURRENT_USER
Software\JavaSoft\Prefs\org\cisecurity\tools\ciscat
result-location
Note: The acceptance of the CIS-CAT Terms of Use agreement is also persisted in the above
locations. On Windows, the registry key Value name is terms-of-use-accepted.
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Once a benchmark is loaded, click Next. CIS-CAT will then determine whether the selected CIS
Benchmark contains a data stream collection. If a data stream collection is discovered, the list of
available data streams and checklists will be displayed:
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Once a data stream is selected, the user may select either a checklist, representing the XCCDF
component of the data stream, or any OVAL-based set of definitions contained within the data
stream.
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Once a checklist is loaded, click Next. A list of available profiles will be provided in the drop down
menu. When a profile is selected, that profiles description will be displayed as seen below:
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Profiles represent a logical grouping of benchmark recommendations. Profiles are commonly used
to distinguish between Level I and Level II scoring recommendations, or target role, such as
Enterprise Desktop, Enterprise Laptop, SSLF Desktop, and SSLF Laptop as seen above in the
Windows 7 benchmark.
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By default an HTML report will be generated. The other report formats available are:
Report Output Option Description
XML Report
The XML report contains the raw XML data used in the assessment as well
as the result information in its appropriate XML format.
Text Report
The Text report contains basic plain-text information, presenting the title
of each rule evaluated and its evaluation result (Pass, Fail, Error, etc)
CSV Report
The CSV report contains basic report evaluation information in a commaseparated value format, which may be opened as an Excel worksheet.
OVAL Results
When a data stream collection utilizes the OVAL checking language, OVAL
Results may be generated. These OVAL results conform to the
specifications outlined in the OVAL Results XML schema.
Asset Reporting Format The Asset Reporting Format represents an XML model expressing the
relationships between the target systems being assessed and the reports
generated for that target system. More information about ARF can be
found here.
The Include Applicable Tests Only option when checked will only output selected tests for
HTML and Text reports. If desired un-checking the Include Applicable Tests Only option all
tests including not selected tests will be included in the reports. Note, for the XML report all
tests will always be included. It is also possible to change the report save location if desired. Once
the options are set click on Generate Report(s) and once the report(s) are generated you can
then click on View Report(s). If multiple reports were generated then the folder the reports
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were saved to will be opened. If only one report was generated then on Windows, this will launch
your systems default program for HTML, text or xml files. On UNIX/Linux systems, CIS-CAT will try
to find a browser to open up the given report. For details on how to interpret these reports, see the
Interpreting Evaluation Results section.
NOTICE:
If you plan to use the CIS-CAT Dashboard, you must export assessment results in XML format by
selecting the XML Report checkbox.
Evaluating a Benchmark
Once you have selected a benchmark and profile to evaluate, click Next to review your choices, as
seen below:
If a vulnerability assessment is to be included with the benchmark assessment, check the Include
Vulnerability Assessment checkbox.
If all assessment settings are correct click the Start Assessment button. Starting the assessment
first triggers the platform validation process. This process attempts to ensure that CIS-CAT is
assessing against the appropriate software or operating system platform, such as attempting to
assess the Windows 7 benchmark on a Windows XP machine. If CIS-CAT determines the platform is
invalid for the selected benchmark, an error message is displayed.
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This message is informational. CIS-CAT will continue to assess the selected benchmark and profile.
CIS-CAT will then display the benchmark execution status screen like the one shown below:
Once the benchmark evaluation is complete, if the user included a vulnerability assessment, the
progress bar will indicate its status. Following the completion of all assessments, the View
Reports button will be enabled allowing for the user to view the generated reports.
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Next, select the directory that contains the CIS-CAT XML results that need to be summarized.
Next, provide CIS-CAT with an aggregation period. By default, CIS-CAT will report aggregate
configuration results on a weekly basis. This configuration will cause CIS-CAT to summarize all
reports that occur within the same calendar week. Similarly, if the aggregation period is set to 1
month, CIS-CAT will summarize all reports that occur in the same calendar month.
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Next, click Create Dashboard to start the aggregation process. Once the aggregation is complete,
the last line in the status window will tell you the location of the aggregation file.
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Once opened, the user has the option to either select a single XML report for generation, or select a
directory from which all XML reports will be processed, generating the selected report types for
each discovered XML report.
When an XML report or a directory has been selected, the user can then configure the report output
options, selecting any combination of HTML, CSV, or Text reports to be generated.
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Once report output options have been selected, the user can then click the Generate Report(s)
button to proceed. Following the completion of report generation, the View Report(s) button will
become enabled to allow the user to select and view the newly created reports.
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Once selected, a pop-up window will appear displaying the status of the download.
NOTE: This may take a few minutes, as many of the downloaded vulnerability definitions files are
large.
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Following the completion of the download, the OK button will become enabled and the user can
return to the main CIS-CAT window.
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-ap,--aggregation-period <arg>
-ar,--aggregate-reports <arg>
-arf, --report-arf
-as, --aggregation-status
-b,--benchmark <arg>
-c,--reset
Reset preferences
-csv,--report-csv
-d,--benchmark-dir <arg>
-dbs, --database-sysdba
-f,--find
-h,--help
-l,--list
-n,--report-no-html
-or, --oval-results
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-rg, --report-gen
-s,--status
-t,--report-txt
-u,--report-upload <arg>
-ui,--ignore-certificate-errors
-up,--update
-v,--version
-va,--vulnerabilities
-vs,--verify-signature
-x,--report-xml
-y,--report-all-tests
The Java portions of the above command can be avoided by utilizing platform specific wrapper
scripts provided within the CIS-CAT bundle, as described in the following table:
Platform
Linux/Unix
Windows
Command
./CIS-CAT.sh [<options>] [<benchmark>] [<profile>]
CIS-CAT.bat [<options>] [<benchmark>] [<profile>]
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When the find option is used, CIS-CAT will enumerate all XCCDF documents located in the
benchmarks directory. For each discovered benchmark, the title and version will be displayed. This
is demonstrated below:
Here are the available benchmarks:
...
#13 Windows XP Professional Benchmark version 2.0.1.3
file:/C:/cis-cat/benchmarks/windows-xp-benchmark.xml
Which benchmark should be used? (return to exit) 13
Select the desired benchmark by typing the number located to the left of the benchmark title. In the
above example, the Windows XP Processional Benchmark was selected by entering 13. Once a
benchmark has been selected, CIS-CAT will display the list of profiles defined in the benchmark. If
no list is provided, the benchmark does not contain a profile. The following demonstrates the
profile listing associated with the Windows XP Processional Benchmark:
Selected C:\cis-cat\benchmarks\windows-xp-benchmark.xml
This benchmark has 15 profiles.
1: SP1 Legacy (legacy-profile-sp1)
2: SP2 Legacy Standalone (legacy-profile-sp2-standalone)
3: SP2 Legacy Domain Member (legacy-profile-sp2-domain)
...
15: NIST Specialized (NIST-Specialized)
Which profile should be used? (return for none) 1
Once a profile is selected, CIS-CAT will evaluate the local system against that profile.
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Additionally a user can specify the benchmark through the command-line arguments -b and
optionally a profile with p. If no profile is selected the first profile in the benchmark is used. An
example of this would look like:
Windows> CIS-CAT.bat b benchmarks\windows-xp-benchmark.xml [-p legacy-profile-sp1]
Unix> ./CIS-CAT.sh b benchmarks/hpux-benchmark.xml [-p base]
Note: The benchmark profile can be reference as either the xccdf:profile@id attribute of the
xccdf:title. When using the profile title, for titles that contain spaces, you will need to use quotes
as shown below:
Windows> CIS-CAT.bat b benchmarks\windows-xp-benchmark.xml -p Legacy Standalone
Unix> ./CIS-CAT.sh b benchmarks/hpux-benchmark.xml p Base Profile
If benchmarks are stored in a location other than benchmarks/, use the d option to cause CIS-CAT
to list or find benchmarks in that location.
NOTICE:
If you plan to use the CIS-CAT Dashboard, you must export assessment results in XML format. See
the Configuring Report Output section for additional details.
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Note: When specifying a profile for evaluation, either the profiles unique ID or the profile title may
be specified.
Note: When specifying an OVAL Definitions component, either the component reference ID in the
data stream, or the components unique ID may be specified.
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1/169
Current Service Pack Installed
2/169
All Critical and Important...date have been installed.
...
168/169 HKU\.Default\Software\Micr...cates\Root\ProtectedRoots
169/169 HKLM \SOFTWARE\Microsoft\W...NT\CurrentVersion\SeCEdit
Total Evaluation Time: 28 seconds
Location
%HOMEDRIVE%%HOMEPATH%\My Documents\CIS-CAT Results
$HOME/CIS-CAT_Results
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quarterlyAssessment.txt
quarterlyAssessment.csv
quarterlyAssessment.html
quarterlyAssessment.xml
To have all tests included in the report, including tests that are not selected for a given profile,
specify the command argument -y.
Windows> CIS-CAT.bat r d:\reports rn quartelyAssessment t x csv -y
Unix> ./CIS-CAT.sh r /reports rn quartelyAssessment t x csv -y
To generate OVAL results and an Asset Reporting Format report, specify the or and arf
command arguments.
Windows> CIS-CAT.bat r d:\reports rn quartelyAssessment or -arf
Unix> ./CIS-CAT.sh r /reports rn quartelyAssessment or -arf
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?>
Vulnerability Assessment
To include a vulnerability assessment along with a benchmark assessment, simply add the -va
command-line option. For example, to execute the CIS CentOS 6 benchmark assessment, using the
Level 1 profile, adding a vulnerability assessment:
> ./CIS-CAT.sh b benchmarks/CIS_CentOS_Linux_6_Benchmark_v1.0.0.xml p
xccdf_org.cisecurity.benchmarks_profile_Level_1 -va
In order to configure CIS-CAT to report all test results, analogous to un-checking the Include
Applicable Tests Only checkbox,
>CIS-CAT.bat rg <path_to_xml_report> -y
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<ComputerName>-result-<timestamp>.xml
Description
This is the primary report that has been formatted
to present evaluation results in an easily
understood format. This report is intended to be
viewed in a web browser.
This is the source XCCDF document that the report
is built from. This file contains all test definitions
and results. This file is not intended to be viewed
outside the context of an XML editor.
Summary of Results
The summary section of the report provides a high level overview of the target systems
conformance to the configuration profile defined in the selected Benchmark and Profile.
In the above example, there are three major sections, each with their own score. The following
details the significant values in the above summary:
Values in the Pass column represent the number of rules that passed in the respective
section. In the above illustration, we can see that two (2) rules passed in the BitLocker Drive
Encryption section.
Values in the Fail column represent the number of rules that failed in the respective section.
In the above illustration, we can see that 38 rules failed in the BitLocker Drive Encryption
section.
Values in the Error column represent the number of rules that resulted in an error. No
success or failure result is derived from this column.
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Values in the Not Selected column represent the number of rules that are informational
only. These rules do not impact the final score of the evaluation.
Values in the Score column represent the rules that passed in a given section.
Values in the Max column represent the maximum score for the given section.
Values in the Percent column represent the percent of rules passed in the given section out
of all scorable (Max) items. For example, the score for the BitLocker Drive Encryption section
is 5%. This value is derived by dividing the number of rules passed, two (2), by the number
of total rules, forty (40).
At the bottom of the summary area there is a Total row which is the aggregate of all sections.
Assessments Results
The Assessments section of the report details all rules defined in the benchmark, as seen in the
following illustration:
The value in the W column indicates the scoring weight of the given Benchmark Item.
Currently, all benchmark items are weighted equally 1.0.
The Benchmark Item column contains the title of a given Benchmark rule. Each item in this
column is a link to Result Details.
The Result column displays the result of a given test. Possible values are: Fail, Pass,
Error, Unknown and Not Selected.
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Assessment Details
The Details section of the report contains the following information for each Benchmark
recommendation:
All information in the Checklist section including Description, CCE (if applicable),
Remediation, and Audit information for the given rule.
The commands used to determine pass/fail status
The XCCDF constructs that define the give rule.
To view the XCCDF constructs, click the Show Rule Result XML link below the Tests dialog box.
The information presented when clicking on this link is primarily for debugging purposes and will
be covered in a future version of this guide.
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Prerequisites
1. All targets must be joined to an Active Directory Domain
2. All targets must have read and write access to the CIS-CAT Share hosted off of the CIS
Host Server
Setup
Perform the following steps to cause the Workstations Group to execute the CIS-CAT instance on the
CIS Host Server.
b. Java
4. To copy the java runtime (JRE) to the CIS folder do the following:
a. Browse to the location where Java is installed, by default Java is located at
%ProgramFiles%\Java.
b. Copy the JRE that applies to the targets you will be evaluating, such as
jre1.5.0_19, to the Java folder you created in step 3.
5. Move CIS\cis-cat-full\misc\cis-cat-centralized.bat to the root of the CIS folder.
6. Share the CIS folder as CIS.
The resulting directory structure will be as follows:
CIS\cis-cat-full
CIS\cis-cat-full\CISCAT.jar
CIS\cis-cat-full\benchmarks
CIS\cis-cat-full\lib
CIS\cis-cat-full\misc
CIS\cis-cat-full\docs
CIS\cis-cat-centralized.bat
CIS\Java
CIS\Reports
Security Considerations
The CIS\Reports folder will contain reports that detail configuration related vulnerabilities for
each system evaluated by CIS-CAT. As such, Read, List folder Contents, Modify, and Write access to
the contents of this folder should be restricted. One way to accomplish this is to create a domain
user, CIS-CAT Domain User, that resides in the local administrators group on each target system.
Execute CIS-CAT under the context of this user. Restrict access to the CIS\Reports directory such
that only this new domain user, and appropriate personnel, can write to or read from this folder.
Write and Modify permissions to following the resources should also be limited to domain
administrators and security personnel:
CIS\cis-cat-centralized.bat
CIS\cis-cat-full
CIS\Java
Anyone with the ability to write to the above resources will be able to execute arbitrary commands
on target systems under the context of the CIS-CAT Domain User (local Administrator). Additionally,
Write, Modify, Read and Execute permissions on the above resources should be limited to the CISCAT Domain User.
Update cis-cat-centralized.bat
Once the CIS folder is setup on the CIS Hosting Server, a few modifications must be made to ciscat-centralized.bat:
SET NetworkShare=\\CisHostServer\CIS
SET JavaPath=Java\jre1.5.0_19
SET JavaPath64=Java64\jre1.5.0_19
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Replace CisHostServer with the fully qualified domain name or IP address of the CIS-CAT Host
Server. Replace jre_1.5.0_19 with version of Java installed in Step 4 under Create CIS Share on the
CIS Hosting Server.
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4. Next create the scheduled task so go to Computer Configuration -> Preferences > Control Panel Settings -> Scheduled Tasks once there click on Action -> New
-> Scheduled Task (Windows Vista and Later). Fill in the name of the task set the
user who will be running the task and make sure Run with highest privileges is
checked. It should look similar to the below screen shot.
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Add in whatever scheduling is needed via the Triggers tab. Then go to the Actions tab click New
and specify the following settings:
/c \\<CisHostServer>\CIS\cis-cat-centralized.bat
Once these steps are implemented, the New Action Dialog will look as follows:
CIS-CAT is now be scheduled to run on all computers that are associated with the group policy.
CIS-CAT reports will be stored \\<CisHostServer>\CIS\Reports. Using the CIS XML Reports, it
is possible to create a CIS-CAT Dashboard that provides a visual representation of your
environments configuration posture over time.
Bandwidth Considerations
Through the deployment and testing of the CIS-CAT Centralized workflow, bandwidth utilization
can reach approximately 300 MB of data for each machine invoking CIS-CAT. This bandwidth
utilization is the cost of invoking CIS-CAT over the network.
Benchmark Considerations
In order to successfully execute this workflow, the scheduled task created via Group Policy must be
allowed to store the credentials of the CIS-CAT Domain User created in previous steps. If any target
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system is configured using CIS benchmarks, certain rules will need to be relaxed in order for these
credentials to be stored:
Benchmark
Windows XP
Windows 8
Windows Server 2003
Windows Server 2008
Windows Server 2012
Configuration Item
3.2.1.41: Network Access: Do not allow storage of credentials or .NET
passports for network authentication
1.1.3.10.11: Configure Network access: Do not allow storage of
passwords and credentials for network authentication
3.2.1.42: Network Access: Do not allow storage of credentials or .NET
passports for network authentication
1.9.39: Network Access: Do not allow storage of credentials or .NET
Passports for network authentication
1.1.3.11.1: Configure Network access: Do not allow storage of passwords
and credentials for network authentication
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Workstations Group
The Workstations Group represents a population of Microsoft Windows targets to be assessed with
CIS-CAT. The Domain Administrator will create Group Policy that causes devices in this group to
invoke CIS-CAT via a Scheduled Task.
Prerequisites
1. All targets must be joined to an Active Directory Domain
2. All targets must have read and write access to the CIS-CAT Share hosted off of the CIS Host
Server
Setup
Perform the following steps to cause the Workstations Group to execute the CIS-CAT instance on the
CIS Host Server.
CIS\cis-cat-dissolvable.bat
CIS\cis-cat-dissolvable.zip
CIS\unzip.exe
CIS\Reports
Security Considerations
The CIS\Reports folder will contain reports that detail configuration related vulnerabilities for
each system evaluated by CIS-CAT. As such, Read, List folder Contents, Modify, and Write access to
the contents of this folder should be restricted. One way to accomplish this is to create a domain
user, CIS-CAT Domain User, that resides in the local administrators group on each target system.
Execute CIS-CAT under the context of this user. Restrict access to the CIS\Reports directory such
that only this new domain user, and appropriate personnel, can write to or read from this folder.
Write and Modify permissions to following the resource should also be limited to domain
administrators and security personnel:
CIS\cis-cat-dissolvable.bat
Anyone with the ability to write to the above resources will be able to execute arbitrary commands
on target systems under the context of the CIS-CAT Domain User (local Administrator). Additionally,
Write, Modify, Read and Execute permissions on the above resources should be limited to the CISCAT Domain User.
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Update cis-cat-dissolvable.bat
Once the CIS folder is setup on the CIS Hosting Server, a few modifications must be made to ciscat-dissolvable.bat:
SET RootDir=%TEMP%
SET NetworkShare=\\CisHostServer\CIS
The RootDir value should be set to a valid temporary directory into which the CIS-CAT files can be
copied. By default this is set to the %TEMP% environment variable. Any valid directory in which
the user executing the script has permissions, may be used. If the RootDir does not resolve to a
valid directory, the script will not execute. Replace CisHostServer with the fully qualified domain
name or IP address of the CIS-CAT Host Server.
2. Select a group policy that is already targeted towards the computers that CIS-CAT needs to
scan or create a new policy.
3. Right click and edit the policy then go to Computer Configuration -> Policies ->
Windows Settings -> Security Settings -> Restricted Groups then right click
and select Add Group. Select the group that has the user(s) that need to run CIS-CAT and
then specify administrators as the group the CIS-CAT group should be a member of.
Like the screen shot below:
4. Next create the scheduled task so go to Computer Configuration -> Preferences > Control Panel Settings -> Scheduled Tasks once there click on Action -> New
-> Scheduled Task (Windows Vista and Later). Fill in the name of the task set the
user who will be running the task and make sure Run with highest privileges is
checked. It should look similar to the below screen shot.
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Add in whatever scheduling is needed via the Triggers tab. Then go to the Actions tab click New
and specify the following settings:
/c \\<CisHostServer>\CIS\cis-cat-dissolvable.bat
Once these steps are implemented, the New Action Dialog will look as follows:
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CIS-CAT is now scheduled to run on all computers that are associated with the group policy.
CIS-CAT reports will be stored \\<CisHostServer>\CIS\Reports. Using the CIS XML Reports, it
is possible to create a CIS-CAT Dashboard that provides a visual representation of your
environments configuration posture over time.
Bandwidth Considerations
Through the deployment and testing of the CIS-CAT Dissolvable workflow, bandwidth utilization
can reach approximately 80 MB of data for each machine invoking CIS-CAT. This bandwidth is the
up-front cost of the network traffic involved in downloading the dissolvable bundle from the CIS
Host Server to each target machine.
Benchmark Considerations
In order to successfully execute this workflow, the scheduled task created via Group Policy must be
allowed to store the credentials of the CIS-CAT Domain User created in previous steps. If any target
system is configured using CIS benchmarks, certain rules will need to be relaxed in order for these
credentials to be stored:
Benchmark
Windows XP
Windows 8
Windows Server 2003
Windows Server 2008
Configuration Item
3.2.1.41: Network Access: Do not allow storage of credentials or .NET
passports for network authentication
1.1.3.10.11: Configure Network access: Do not allow storage of
passwords and credentials for network authentication
3.2.1.42: Network Access: Do not allow storage of credentials or .NET
passports for network authentication
1.9.39: Network Access: Do not allow storage of credentials or .NET
Passports for network authentication
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Once the parameters are set continue running the CIS-CAT scan like normal. Below is a description
of the parameters:
1. The ORACLE_HOME parameter corresponds with the Oracle Database server's
ORACLE_HOME environment variable. CISCAT will attempt to populate this value from the
environment. For more information on the ORACL_HOME variable, see
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http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E11857_01/em.111/e12255/oui2_manage_oracle_homes.ht
m
a. The JDBC string parameter is the connection string used to connect to and
authenticate to the Oracle Database service and instance that CIS-CAT will assess.
The following components of the JDBC string must be changed in order for CISCAT
to successfully connect to the Oracle instance:
b. Credentials - "sys/password" must be replaced by a valid username and
password.
c. IP Address - the IP address must be updated to the IP address the Oracle server is
bound to.
d. TCP Port - Oracle is typically bound to port 1521/TCP. Confirm the Oracle server
you intend to assess is bound to this port. If not, update the JDBC string
accordingly.
e. Database SID - Replace "CIS" with the SID of the Oracle database instance you
intend to assess with CISCAT. For more information on SIDs, please see
http://asktom.oracle.com/pls/asktom/f?p=100:11:0::::P11_QUESTION_ID:31821
6852435
2. The Connect as SYSDBA parameter determines if CISCAT will connect to the Oracle
instance with the SYSDBA privilege. This is required for CISCAT to accurately assess
Oracle databases. Ensure this parameter is set to true. For more information on the AS
SYSDBA directive, see
http://asktom.oracle.com/pls/asktom/f?p=100:11:0::::P11_QUESTION_ID:61866277480
450.
3. The oracle owner account parameter refers to the Linux user that the Oracle service
was installed using. This user typically owns the file system resources associated with
the Oracle installation. I.e. "oracle".
4. The oracle owner account / group for windows files parameter refers to the
Windows principal that the Oracle service was installed as. I.e. "oracle".
5. The oracle owner group parameter refers to the Linux group that the Oracle service
was installed as. This group typically owns the file system resources associated with the
Oracle installation. I.e. "oinstall".
6. The oracle dba group parameter refers to the Linux group that Oracle DBAs belong to.
I.e "dba".
7. The oracle rsa group parameter refers to least privileged restricted service account
(RSA) that the Oracle service executes as. This parameter is only applicable to Oracle on
Windows.
8. The ORACLE_HTTPSERVER_HOME parameter corresponds with the Oracle Database
server's ORACLE_HTTPSERVER_HOME environment variable. CISCAT will attempt to
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populate this value from the environment. For more information on the ORACL_HOME
variable, see
http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E10513_01/doc/install.310/e10496/db_install.htm
Properties required for the database connection can be provided as <property>=<value> pairs,
separated by a semi-colon (;).
Consider a Microsoft SQL Server database instance with the following information:
Property Name
Property Value
Server Name
CIS-SERVER
Database Name
TestDB
Database Port
1433
Windows Domain
WIN-DOMAIN
Windows Domain User & Password
jsmith/qw3rty
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db_user/db_pass
NOTES:
The default port number for MS SQL Server databases is 1433.
The full set of connection properties supported by jTDS can be found at
http://jtds.sourceforge.net/faq.html#urlFormat
NOTES:
The default port number for Sybase databases is 7100
The full set of connection properties supported by jTDS can be found at
http://jtds.sourceforge.net/faq.html#urlFormat
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Logo
The default logo is the Security Benchmarks graphic located in the top-right-hand corner of the
HTML report cover page. In order to utilize a custom image for the HTML report logo, place an
image named logo.gif into the custom/brand folder of the CIS-CAT installation.
Subtitle Graphic
The default subtitle graphic is the dark-grey colored horizontal image containing
a. The benchmark assessed,
b. The profile assessed, and
c. The date/time of the assessment which generated the HTML report
In order to utilize a custom image for the subtitle graphic, place an image named
cover_page_subtitle.gif into the custom/brand folder of the CIS-CAT installation.
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Platform Applicability
CIS-CATs assessment capabilities have been validated as an Authenticated Configuration Scanner
(ACS), with CVE option on the following operating system platforms:
Microsoft Windows XP Professional with Service Pack 3
Microsoft Windows Vista with Service Pack 2
Microsoft Windows 7, 32-bit edition
Microsoft Windows 7, 64-bit edition
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 Desktop, 32-bit edition
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 Desktop, 64-bit edition
XCCDF Implementation
CIS-CATs capabilities include the ability to assess a target system based on rules defined using the
eXtensible Configuration Checklist Description Format (XCCDF), versions 1.1.4 and 1.2. XCCDF is
used throughout CIS-CAT as the required XML schema for benchmarks, as well as the checklist
definition schema within SCAP source data streams. This ensures that outside compliance
benchmarks/data streams, such as those provided by the NIST National Checklist Program, Federal
Desktop Core Configuration (FDCC), or the US Government Configuration Baseline (USGCB), can be
used alongside custom or CIS benchmarks. The XCCDF format specifies the required tests for one
or more profiles. At run-time, a user will be able to select any of the given profiles specified in a
XCCDF, and CIS-CAT will assess the configuration rules included in the selected profile. With CISCAT, an evaluation check can be specified in three ways:
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In-place, contained in the rule definition using CIS proprietary Embedded Check Language
(ECL),
Through a separate Open Vulnerability Assessment Language (OVAL) file, or
Through a reference to OVAL definitions contained in the same SCAP data stream.
The relevant descriptions, CCE IDs and other related artifacts entered in the XCCDF will be
preserved and included in the XML and HTML results produced by a CIS-CAT assessment.
OVAL Implementation
The Open Vulnerability and Assessment Language (OVAL) is used to identify
vulnerabilities and issues. Common examples of the use of OVAL files are:
the checking language referenced from a separate XCCDF file,
the checking language referenced from a checklist component of a
SCAP source data stream,
the checking language referenced from a CPE dictionary component of SCAP source data
stream
The OVAL component will contain the definitions, tests, as well as the state a target system is
expected to exhibit. When CIS-CAT encounters a reference to an OVAL definition, it parses the
specific OVAL components/files and uses those referenced definition identifiers to look up the
appropriate tests to be executed. Each OVAL definition may be comprised of one-to-many OVAL
tests; the results of which may be logically combined to enumerate an overall definition result. The
CIS-CAT evaluation engine is the controller for parsing the required tests, collecting the appropriate
system characteristics, evaluating the collected information against the expected state, and
recording the success, failure, or any error conditions of a given test. CIS-CAT supports components
specified using versions 5.3, 5.8, and 5.10.1 of the OVAL language.
CIS-CAT supports the following component schema and implements the indicated OVAL tests
within each:
Component Schema
Platform Independent Definitions
family_test
filehash_test
filehash58_test
environmentvariable_test
environmentvariable58_test
sql57_test
textfilecontent_test
textfilecontent54_test
unknown_test
variable_test
xmlfilecontent_test
Unix Definitions
file_test
inetd_test
password_test
process58_test
runlevel_test
shadow_test
uname_test
xinetd_test
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Linux Definitions
partition_test
rpminfo_test
selinuxboolean_test
Windows Definitions
accesstoken_test
auditeventpolicy_test
auditeventpolicysubcategories_test
cmdlet_test
file_test
fileauditedpermissions_test
fileauditedpermissions53_test
fileeffectiverights_test
fileeffectiverights53_test
group_test
group_sid_test
interface_test
lockoutpolicy_test
passwordpolicy_test
process58_test
registry_test
regkeyeffectiverights_test
regkeyeffectiverights53_test
service_test
serviceeffectiverights_test
sid_test
sid_sid_test
uac_test
user_test
user_sid_test
user_sid55_test
volume_test
wmi_test
wmi57_test
wuaupdatesearcher_test
altogether, will be rejected and assessment halted. Note that this is an optional command-line
option; digital signature validation will not be attempted by default.
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http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/nistir/ir7502/nistir-7502_CCSS.pdf
http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/nistpubs/800-126-rev2/SP800-126r2.pdf
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