What changed in Palo Alto Networks ALG STIG V3R4V3R4 changes

Palo Alto Networks ALG STIG V3R4 (2025-04-02) replaced V3R3 (2025-01-30): 1 check updated. It has 50 checks, against 50 in V3R3.

  • 0 added
  • 0 removed
  • 1 updated

Updated fields: Check text 1Fix text 1Title 1Discussion 1

Updated in V3R4 (1)

V-228860CAT IThe Palo Alto Networks security platform must protect against denial-of-service (DoS) attacks from external sources.Title, Check text, Fix text, Discussion

Title

The Palo Alto Networks security platform must blockprotect outboundagainst traffic containing denial-of-service (DoS) attacks tofrom protectexternal against the use of internal information systems to launch any DoS attacks against other networks or endpointssources.

Check text

View the site's Security Protection Plan (SSP). Verify if Zone-based protection, DoS Protectionprotection, or both are required by the SSP. There may be more than one configured policyinbound that protects external networks and DMZ networks from DoS type attacks generated from the internal devices on the trusted networkspolicy. If the SSP requiredrequires one or more Zone Protectionprotection Policiespolicies: 1. Navigate to Network >> Network Profiles >> Zone Protection. 2. Navigate to Network >> Zones and view the "Zone Protection Profile", which should not be blank. 3. If a Zone Protection Profile is not configured, has a blank "Zone Protection Profile" column, or is incorrectly identified, this is a finding. If the SSP requires one or more DoS Protectionprotection Policiespolicies: 1. Navigate to Objects >> Security Profiles >> DoS Protection. 2. Navigate to Policies >> DoS Protection. 3. If a DoS Protection Profile is not configured, has a blank zone, or is incorrectly identified, this is a finding. If neither a Zone Protection Profile ornor a DoS Protection policy is not configured to protect externaleach networksingress and DMZ networks from DoS type attacks generated from the internal devices on the trusted networksinterface, this is a finding.

Fix text

Configure either a Zone-Based Protectionprotection policy or a DoS Protectionprotection policy. Zone Protectionsprotections are, at a minimum, applied on theeach ingress interface. To configure a Zone-Based Protectionprotection policy, perform the following: 1. Navigate to Network >> Network Profiles >> Zone Protection and select "Add". 2. In the "Zone Protection Profile" window, complete the required fields. 3. In the "General" tab, complete the "Name" and "Description" fields. 4. Configure Flood Protection: a. In the "Flood Protection" tab, select the "Syn" check box, in the "Action" field, select either "Random Early Drop" (preferred in this case) or "SYN Cookie"; complete the "Alert", "Activate", and "Maximum" fields. b. In the "Flood Protection" tab, select the "ICMP" check box; complete the "Alert", "Activate", and "Maximum" fields. c. In the "Flood Protection" tab, select the "ICMPv6" check box; complete the "Alert", "Activate", and "Maximum" fields. d. In the "Flood Protection" tab, select the "Other IP" check box; complete the "Alert", "Activate", and "Maximum" fields. e. In the "Flood Protection" tab, select the "UDP" check box; complete the "Alert", "Activate", and "Maximum" fields. f. For each of the "Alert", "Activate", and "Maximum" fields, the appropriate values depends on the expected traffic of the system. 5. Configure Reconnaissance Protection: a. In the "Reconnaissance Protection" tab, select the "TCP Port Scan", "Host Sweep", and "UDP Port Scan" rows. b. Select the action of Block IP. c. The Interval and Threshold values can either remain as the default values or they can be changed based on the specific traffic conditions of the network. 6. Configure Packet Based Attack Protection settings: a. Select the "Packet Based Attack Protection" tab and select the following at a minimum. b. IP Drop tab: selectSelect the "Spoofed IP address", "Strict Source Routing", "Loose Source Routing", "Unknown", and "Malformed". c. TCP Drop tab: selectSelect "Mismatched overlapping TCP segment" and "TCP Timestamp", and for the "Reject Non-SYN TCP" field, select "yes". For the "Asymmetric Path" field, select "bypass". d. ICMP Drop tab: selectSelect the "ICMP Ping ID 0, ICMP Fragment", and "ICMP Large Packet(>1024)" check-boxes. The "Suppress ICMP TTL Expired Error" and "Suppress ICMP Frag Needed" check-boxes can remain unchecked unless this profile will be applied to an internal or DMZ. e. IPv6 Drop tab: selectSelect the "Type 0 Routing Header", "IPv4 compatible address", "Anycast source address", "Needless fragment header", "MTU in ICMPv6 'Packet Too Big' less than 1280 bytes", "Hop-by-Hop extension", "Routing extension", "Destination extension", "Invalid IPv6 options in extension header", and "Non-zero reserved field" check-boxes. f. In the "ICMPv6" tab, select the "ICMPv6 destination unreachable", "ICMPv6 packet too big", "ICMPv6 time exceeded", "ICMPv6 parameter problem", and "ICMPv6 redirect" check-boxes. g. Click "OK". 7. Apply the Zone Protection Profile to theany internal zone andthat theincludes DMZingress interfaces to external networks: a. Select Network >> Zones and select the internalingress zone. b. In the "Zone" window, in the "Zone Protection Profile" window, select the configured Zone Protection Profile. c. Click "OK". d. Select Network >> Zones and select the DMZ zone. e. In the "Zone" window, in the "Zone Protection Profile" window, select the configured Zone Protection Profile. f. Click "OK". 8. Commit the changes. To configure a DoS Protection policy: 1. Navigate to Objects >> Security Profiles >> DoS Protection. 2. Select "Add" to create a new profile. 3. In the "DoS Protection Profile" window, complete the required fields. For the "Type", select "Classified". 4. Configure Flood Protection by enabling each type of flood protection and configuring the following at a minimum: a. SYN Flood tab: selectSelect "SYN Cookie" as the action. b. UDP Flood tab: selectSelect "UDP Flood and complete the "Alarm Rate", "Activate Rate", "Max Rate", and "Block Duration" fields. c. ICMP Flood tab: selectSelect "ICMP Flood" and complete the "Alarm Rate", "Activate Rate", "Max Rate", and "Block Duration" fields. d. ICMPv6 Flood tab: selectSelect "ICMPv6 Flood" and complete the "Alarm Rate", "Activate Rate", "Max Rate", and "Block Duration" fields. e. Other IP Flood tab: selectSelect "Other IP Flood" check box and complete the "Alarm Rate", "Activate Rate", "Max Rate", and "Block Duration" fields. 5. Configure Resources Protection in the Resources Protection tab with the following settings: a. Select "Maximum Concurrent Sessions". b. Complete the "Max Concurrent Sessions" field. If the DoS profile type is aggregate, this limit applies to the entire traffic hitting the DoS rule on which the DoS profile is applied. c. Click "OK", and then click "Commit". 6. Create a DoS protection policy that specifies the criteria for matching the incoming traffic. a. Navigate to Policies >> DoS Protection and select "Add" to create a new policy. b. In the "DoS Rule" Window, complete the required fields. c. In the "General" tab, complete the "Name" and "Description" fields. d. In the "Source" tab, for "Zone", select the "External zone", and for "Source Address", select "Any". e. In the "Destination" tab, "Zone", select "Internal zone", and for "Destination Address", select "Any". f. In the "Option/Protection" tab, for "Service", select "Any", and for "Action", select "Protect". g. Select the "Classified" check-box. h. In the "Profile" field, select the configured DoS Protection profile containingfor the ingressinbound interfacetraffic. i. In the "Address" field, select destination-ip-only. j. Click "OK", and then click "Commit".

Discussion

If the network does not provide safeguards against DoS attacks, network resources may be unavailable to users. Installation of content filtering gateways and application-layer firewalls at key boundaries in the architecture mitigates the risk of DoS attacks. These attacks can be detected by matching observed communications traffic with patterns of known attacks and monitoring for anomalies in traffic volume/type. Detection components that use rate-based behavior analysis can detect attacks when signatures for the attack do not exist or are not installed. These attacks include zero-day attacks that are new attacks for which vendors have not yet developed signatures. Rate-based behavior analysis can detect sophisticated, Distributed DoS (DDoS) attacks by correlating traffic information from multiple network segments or components. PAN-OS can use either Zone-Based Protection or End Host Protection to mitigate DoS attacks. Zone-Based Protection protects against most common floods, reconnaissance attacks, and other packet-based attacks and is applied to any zone. End Host Protection is specific to defined end hosts. Zone Protections are always applied on the ingress interface, so to protect against floods or scans from the internet, apply the profile on the zone containing the untrusted internet interface. Security administrators wishing to harden their networks even further can apply Zone Protections to both internal and external interfaces to ensure that protective measures are being applied across the entire environment. It is important to set the Flood Protection parameters that are suitable for the enclave or system. The Administratoradministrator should perform a traffic baseline to tune these parameters. Refer to https://knowledgebase.paloaltonetworks.com/KCSArticleDetail?id=kA10g000000ClVkCAK.

How these changes are found

Checks are matched across the two releases by V-number. A check counts as updated when DISA gave it a new rule revision (the r number in its SV-…_rule id) and its title, severity, check text, fix text, discussion, CCIs or other fields changed — the same comparison STIG Compare makes. Added checks are new V-numbers; removed checks are V-numbers V3R4 no longer has.

Comparing other releases, or this one against an older release? Pick any two in STIG Compare.