McAfee VSEL 1.9/2.0 Managed Client Security Technical Implementation Guide

38procedures

Search filters the loaded procedure list locally. Separate terms must all match (use quotes for an exact phrase). Cached STIG Search results apply when you arrive from Search.

Severity
ArchivedPublished Fri Oct 27 2017
Objective ID
Severity
Discussion
V-62793
high
Anti-virus signature files are updated almost daily by anti-virus software vendors. These files are made available to anti-virus clients as they are published. Keeping virus signature files as current as possible is vital to the security of any system. By configuring a system to attempt an anti-virus update on a daily basis, the system is ensured of maintaining an anti-virus signature age of 7 days or less. If the update attempt were to be configured for only once a week, and that attempt failed, the system would be immediately out of date.
V-62997
medium
Anti-virus signature files are updated almost daily by anti-virus software vendors. These files are made available to anti-virus clients as they are published. Keeping virus signature files as current as possible is vital to the security of any system. The anti-virus software product must be configured to receive those updates automatically in order to afford the expected protection.
V-62999
high
For anti-virus software to be effective, it must be running at all times, beginning from the point of the system's initial startup. Otherwise, the risk is greater for viruses, Trojans, and other malware infecting the system during that startup phase.
V-63001
medium
Malware is often packaged within an archive. In addition, archives may have other archives within. Not scanning archive files introduces the risk of infected files being introduced into the environment.
V-63003
medium
Due to the ability of malware to mutate after infection, standard anti-virus signatures may not be able to catch new strains or variants of the malware. Typically, these strains and variants will share unique characteristics with others in their virus family. By using a generic signature to detect the shared characteristics, using wildcards where differences lie, the generic signature can detect viruses even if they are padded with extra, meaningless code. This method of detection is Heuristic detection.
V-63005
medium
Interpreted viruses are executed by an application. Within this subcategory, macro viruses take advantage of the capabilities of applications' macro programming language to infect application documents and document templates, while scripting viruses infect scripts that are understood by scripting languages processed by services on the OS. Many attackers use toolkits containing several different types of utilities and scripts that can be used to probe and attack hosts. Scanning for unknown macro viruses will mitigate zero-day attacks.
V-63007
medium
Potentially Unwanted Programs (PUPs) include Spyware, Adware, Remote Administration Tools, Dialers, Password Crackers, Jokes, and Key Loggers. While PUPs do not typically have any infection capability on their own, they rely on malware or other attach mechanisms to be installed onto target hosts, after which they will collect and transfer data from the host to an external host and/or will be used as attach mechanisms. Configuring the anti-virus software to attempt to clean the file first will allow for the possibility of a false positive. In most cases, however, the secondary action of quarantine will be used, mitigating the risk of the PUPs being installed and used maliciously.
V-63009
medium
Anti-virus software is the most commonly used technical control for malware threat mitigation. Real-time scanning of files as they are written to disk is a crucial first line of defense from malware attacks.
V-63011
medium
Anti-virus software is the most commonly used technical control for malware threat mitigation. Real-time scanning of files as they are read from disk is a crucial first line of defense from malware attacks.
V-63013
medium
When scanning for malware, excluding specific file types will increase the risk of a malware-infected file going undetected. By configuring anti-virus software to scan all file types, the scanner has a higher success rate at detecting and eradicating malware.
V-63015
medium
When anti-virus software is not configured to limit the amount of time spent trying to scan a file, the total effectiveness of the anti-virus software, and performance on the system being scanned, will be degraded. By limiting the amount of time the anti-virus software uses when scanning a file, the scan will be able to complete in a timely manner.
V-63017
medium
When scanning for malware, excluding specific files will increase the risk of a malware-infected file going undetected. By configuring anti-virus software without any exclusions, the scanner has a higher success rate at detecting and eradicating malware.
V-63019
medium
Malware may have infected a file that is necessary to the user. By configuring the anti-virus software to first attempt cleaning the infected file, availability to the file is not sacrificed. If a cleaning attempt is not successful, however, deleting the file is the only safe option to ensure the malware is not introduced onto the system or network.
V-63021
medium
Malware may have infected a file that is necessary to the user. By configuring the anti-virus software to first attempt cleaning the infected file, availability to the file is not sacrificed. If a cleaning attempt is not successful, however, deleting the file is the only safe option to ensure the malware is not introduced onto the system or network.
V-63023
medium
Potentially Unwanted Programs (PUPs) include Spyware, Adware, Remote Administration Tools, Dialers, Password Crackers, Jokes, and Key Loggers. While PUPs do not typically have any infection capability on their own, they rely on malware or other attach mechanisms to be installed onto target hosts, after which they will collect and transfer data from the host to an external host and/or will be used as attach mechanisms. Configuring the anti-virus software to attempt to clean the file first will allow for the possibility of a false positive. In most cases, however, the secondary action of quarantine will be used, mitigating the risk of the PUPs being installed and used maliciously.
V-63025
medium
Potentially Unwanted Programs (PUPs) include Spyware, Adware, Remote Administration Tools, Dialers, Password Crackers, Jokes, and Key Loggers. While PUPs do not typically have any infection capability on their own, they rely on malware or other attach mechanisms to be installed onto target hosts, after which they will collect and transfer data from the host to an external host and/or will be used as attach mechanisms. Configuring the anti-virus software to attempt to clean the file first will allow for the possibility of a false positive. In most cases, however, the secondary action of quarantine will be used, mitigating the risk of the PUPs being installed and used maliciously.
V-63027
medium
Anti-virus software is the most commonly used technical control for malware threat mitigation. Real-time scanning of files as they are read from disk is a crucial first line of defense from malware attacks.
V-63029
medium
Anti-virus software is the most commonly used technical control for malware threat mitigation. Real-time scanning of files as they are read from disk is a crucial first line of defense from malware attacks.
V-63031
medium
Mounting network volumes to other network systems introduces a path for malware to be introduced. It is imperative to protect Linux systems from malware introduced from those other network systems by either ensuring the remote systems are protected or by scanning files from those systems when they are accessed.
V-63033
medium
Anti-virus software is the most commonly used technical control for malware threat mitigation. Real-time scanning of files as they are read from disk is a crucial first line of defense from malware attacks but to ensure all files are frequently scanned, a regularly scheduled full scan will ensure malware missed by the real-time scanning will be detected and mitigated.
V-63035
medium
Malware is often packaged within an archive. In addition, archives might have other archives within. Not scanning archive files introduces the risk of infected files being introduced into the environment.
V-63037
medium
Due to the ability of malware to mutate after infection, standard anti-virus signatures may not be able to catch new strains or variants of the malware. Typically, these strains and variants will share unique characteristics with others in their virus family. By using a generic signature to detect the shared characteristics, using wildcards where differences lie, the generic signature can detect viruses even if they are padded with extra, meaningless code. This method of detection is Heuristic detection.
V-63039
medium
Interpreted viruses are executed by an application. Within this subcategory, macro viruses take advantage of the capabilities of applications' macro programming language to infect application documents and document templates, while scripting viruses infect scripts that are understood by scripting languages processed by services on the OS. Many attackers use toolkits containing several different types of utilities and scripts that can be used to probe and attack hosts. Scanning for unknown macro viruses will mitigate zero-day attacks.
V-63041
medium
Potentially Unwanted Programs (PUPs) include Spyware, Adware, Remote Administration Tools, Dialers, Password Crackers, Jokes, and Key Loggers. While PUPs do not typically have any infection capability on their own, they rely on malware or other attach mechanisms to be installed onto target hosts, after which they will collect and transfer data from the host to an external host and/or will be used as attach mechanisms. Configuring the anti-virus software to attempt to clean the file first will allow for the possibility of a false positive. In most cases, however, the secondary action of quarantine will be used, mitigating the risk of the PUPs being installed and used maliciously.
V-63043
medium
When scanning for malware, excluding specific file types will increase the risk of a malware-infected file going undetected. By configuring anti-virus software to scan all file types, the scanner has a higher success rate at detecting and eradicating malware.
V-63045
medium
Malware may have infected a file that is necessary to the user. By configuring the anti-virus software to first attempt cleaning the infected file, availability to the file is not sacrificed. If a cleaning attempt is not successful, however, deleting the file is the only safe option to ensure the malware is not introduced onto the system or network.
V-63047
medium
Malware may have infected a file that is necessary to the user. By configuring the anti-virus software to first attempt cleaning the infected file, availability to the file is not sacrificed. If a cleaning attempt is not successful, however, deleting the file is the only safe option to ensure the malware is not introduced onto the system or network.
V-63049
medium
When scanning for malware, excluding specific files will increase the risk of a malware-infected file going undetected. By configuring anti-virus software without any exclusions, the scanner has a higher success rate at detecting and eradicating malware.
V-63051
medium
If the Web UI was left enabled, the system to which the VSEL has been installed would be vulnerable for Web attacks. Disabling the Web UI will prevent the system from listening on HTTP.
V-63053
medium
Potentially Unwanted Programs (PUPs) include Spyware, Adware, Remote Administration Tools, Dialers, Password Crackers, Jokes, and Key Loggers. While PUPs do not typically have any infection capability on their own, they rely on malware or other attach mechanisms to be installed onto target hosts, after which they will collect and transfer data from the host to an external host and/or will be used as attach mechanisms. Configuring the anti-virus software to attempt to clean the file first will allow for the possibility of a false positive. In most cases, however, the secondary action of quarantine will be used, mitigating the risk of the PUPs being installed and used maliciously.
V-63055
medium
Potentially Unwanted Programs (PUPs) include Spyware, Adware, Remote Administration Tools, Dialers, Password Crackers, Jokes, and Key Loggers. While PUPs do not typically have any infection capability on their own, they rely on malware or other attach mechanisms to be installed onto target hosts, after which they will collect and transfer data from the host to an external host and/or will be used as attach mechanisms. Configuring the anti-virus software to attempt to clean the file first will allow for the possibility of a false positive. In most cases, however, the secondary action of quarantine will be used, mitigating the risk of the PUPs being installed and used maliciously.
V-63057
medium
Malware is often packaged within an archive. In addition, archives might have other archives within. Not scanning archive files introduces the risk of infected files being introduced into the environment.
V-63059
medium
When scanning for malware, excluding specific file types will increase the risk of a malware-infected file going undetected. By configuring anti-virus software to scan all file types, the scanner has a higher success rate at detecting and eradicating malware.
V-63061
medium
A server that functions as an attached disk drive is vulnerable if it is internally unprotected. Network attached storage (NAS) devices often have poor security. If they do not require any authentication, any infected device on the local network can grab confidential data from them or plant malicious files. To guard against malware on the network level, all devices must be taken into account. Any unprotected machine is a weakness for the whole network. It is imperative to protect Linux systems from malware introduced from mounted volumes pointing to network servers without an antivirus solution by ensuring they are scanned.

V-63063
medium
Removable media such as CD/DVDs allow a path for malware to be introduced to a Linux System. It is imperative to protect Linux systems from malware introduced from removable media by ensuring they are scanned before use.
V-63065
medium
Anti-virus signature files are updated almost daily by anti-virus software vendors. These files are made available to anti-virus clients as they are published. Keeping virus signature files as current as possible is vital to the security of any system. The anti-virus software product must be configured to receive those updates automatically in order to afford the expected protection.

While obtaining updates, patches, service packs and updates from the vendor are timelier, the possibility of corruption or malware being introduced to the system is higher. By obtaining these from an official DoD source and/or downloading them to a separate system first and validating them before making them available to systems, the possibility of malware being introduced is mitigated.
V-63067
medium
The McAfee VirusScan Enterprise for Linux software runs its processes under the nails user, which is part of the nailsgroup group. The WEB GUI is also accessed using the nails user. Ensuring this account only has access to the required functions necessary for its intended role will mitigate the possibility of the nails user/nailsgroup group from being used to perform malicious destruction to the system in the event of a compromise.
V-63069
medium
Failure of anti-virus signature updates will eventually render the software to be useless in protecting the Linux system from malware. Administration notification for failed updates, via SMTP, will ensure timely remediation of errors causing DATs to not be updated.