F5 BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager Security Technical Implementation Guide

The F5 BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager Security Technical Implementation Guide (V2 R2) has 6 STIG checks. New to STIG checklists? Read What is a STIG checklist?, CKL vs CKLB, and STIG vs SCAP benchmark.

6STIG checks

Search filters this STIG's checks locally. Separate terms must all match (use quotes for an exact phrase). A search you ran on the Search page carries over here.

Severity
CurrentPublished Thu Jan 30 2025 What changed in V2R2
Objective ID
Severity
Discussion
medium
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 being transported to an unapproved destination.

Application Layer Gateways (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).
high
Information flow control regulates where information is allowed to travel within a network and between interconnected networks. Blocking or restricting detected harmful or suspicious communications between interconnected networks enforces approved authorizations for controlling the flow of traffic.

This requirement applies to the flow of information between the Application Layer Gateway (ALG) when used as a gateway or boundary device which allows traffic flow between interconnected networks of differing security policies.

The ALG installed and configured in such a way that restricts or blocks information flows based on guidance in the Ports, Protocols, & Services (PPSM) regarding restrictions for boundary crossing for ports, protocols, and services. Information flow restrictions may be implemented based on attribute- and content-based inspection of the source, destination, headers, and/or content of the communications traffic.

The ALGs must be configured with policy filters (e.g., security policy, rules, and/or signatures) that restrict or block information system services; provide a packet filtering capability based on header information; and/or perform message filtering based on message content. The policy filters used depend upon the type of application gateway (e.g., web, email, or TLS).
medium
Without establishing what type of event occurred, it would be difficult to establish, correlate, and investigate the events leading up to an outage or attack.

Audit record content that may be necessary to satisfy this requirement includes, for example, event descriptions, success/fail indications, filenames involved, and access control or flow control rules invoked.

Associating event types with detected events in the gateway logs provides a means of investigating an attack, recognizing resource utilization or capacity thresholds, or identifying an improperly configured network element.

This requirement does not apply to audit logs generated on behalf of the device itself (management).
medium
Unrestricted traffic may contain malicious traffic that poses a threat to an enclave or to other connected networks. Additionally, unrestricted traffic may transit a network, which uses bandwidth and other resources.

Access control policies and access control lists implemented on devices that control the flow of network traffic (e.g., application-level firewalls and Web content filters) ensure the flow of traffic is only allowed from authorized sources to authorized destinations. Networks with different levels of trust (e.g., the Internet or CDS) must be kept separate.
medium
A common vulnerability of network elements is unpredictable behavior when invalid inputs are received. This requirement guards against adverse or unintended system behavior caused by invalid inputs where information system responses to the invalid input may be disruptive or cause the system to fail into an unsafe state.

The behavior will be derived from the organizational and system requirements and includes, but is not limited to, notification of the appropriate personnel, creating an audit record, and rejecting invalid input.

This requirement applies to gateways and firewalls that perform content inspection or have higher layer proxy functions.
high
Security flaws with software applications are discovered daily. Vendors are constantly updating and patching their products to address newly discovered security vulnerabilities. Organizations (including any contractor to the organization) are required to promptly install security-relevant software updates (e.g., patches, service packs, and hot fixes). Flaws discovered during security assessments, continuous monitoring, incident response activities, or information system error handling must also be addressed expeditiously.

Organization-defined time periods for updating security-relevant software may vary based on a variety of factors including, for example, the security category of the information system or the criticality of the update (i.e., severity of the vulnerability related to the discovered flaw).

This requirement will apply to software patch management solutions that are used to install patches across the enclave and to applications that are not part of that patch management solution. For example, many browsers today provide the capability to install their own patch software. Patch criticality, as well as system criticality, will vary. Therefore, the tactical situations regarding the patch management process will also vary. This means that the period used must be a configurable parameter. Time frames for application of security-relevant software updates may be dependent upon the Information Assurance Vulnerability Management (IAVM) process.

The application will be configured to check for and install security-relevant software updates within an identified period from the availability of the update. The specific period will be defined by an authoritative source (e.g., IAVM, CTOs, DTMs, and STIGs).