QPR ProcessAnalyzer Security Hardening: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 23:08, 27 December 2023

This article provides recommendations for improving (hardening) the security of QPR ProcessAnalyzer Server installation. In addition to the server hardening, there are also hardening instructions for QPR ScriptLauncher installations.

Disable SSL, TLS 1.0 and TLS 1.1

Transport Layer Security (TLS) is used to encrypt connections with clients, such as web browsers. SSL 2.0, SSL 3.0, TLS 1.0 and TLS 1.1 are no longer adequately secure, so it's recommended to only allow clients to connect with TLS 1.2 or TLS 1.3 (preferred). However, some client devices might not support TLS 1.2, so you might need to keep TLS 1.0 and/or TLS 1.1 enabled.

Here is a Powershell script to disable TLS 1.0 and TLS 1.1 and enable TLS 1.2:

New-Item -Path "HKLM:\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\SecurityProviders\SCHANNEL\Protocols\TLS 1.0\Client\" -Force
Set-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\SecurityProviders\SCHANNEL\Protocols\TLS 1.0\Client\" -Name Enabled -Type Dword -Value 0
New-Item -Path "HKLM:\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\SecurityProviders\SCHANNEL\Protocols\TLS 1.0\Server\" -Force
Set-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\SecurityProviders\SCHANNEL\Protocols\TLS 1.0\Server\" -Name Enabled -Type Dword -Value 0
New-Item -Path "HKLM:\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\SecurityProviders\SCHANNEL\Protocols\TLS 1.1\Client\" -Force

Set-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\SecurityProviders\SCHANNEL\Protocols\TLS 1.1\Client\" -Name DisabledByDefault -Type Dword -Value 1
New-Item -Path "HKLM:\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\SecurityProviders\SCHANNEL\Protocols\TLS 1.1\Server\" -Force
Set-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\SecurityProviders\SCHANNEL\Protocols\TLS 1.1\Server\" -Name DisabledByDefault -Type Dword -Value 1

New-Item -Path "HKLM:\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\SecurityProviders\SCHANNEL\Protocols\TLS 1.2\Client\" -Force
Set-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\SecurityProviders\SCHANNEL\Protocols\TLS 1.2\Client\" -Name DisabledByDefault -Type Dword -Value 0
Set-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\SecurityProviders\SCHANNEL\Protocols\TLS 1.2\Client\" -Name Enabled -Type Dword -Value 1
New-Item -Path "HKLM:\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\SecurityProviders\SCHANNEL\Protocols\TLS 1.2\Server\" -Force
Set-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\SecurityProviders\SCHANNEL\Protocols\TLS 1.2\Server\" -Name DisabledByDefault -Type Dword -Value 0
Set-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\SecurityProviders\SCHANNEL\Protocols\TLS 1.2\Server\" -Name Enabled -Type Dword -Value 1

More information: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/187498/how-to-disable-pct-1-0-ssl-2-0-ssl-3-0-or-tls-1-0-in-internet-informat

Disable Weak Ciphers

Use only cipher suites that are considered secure. The up-to-date information regarding security of specific ciphers can be checked here: https://ciphersuite.info/ (use only the ciphers that are classified as recommended or secure). The up-to-date list of the recommended ciphers (maintained by Mozilla) are also available as json format: https://ssl-config.mozilla.org/guidelines/5.6.json (use only the ciphers in the modern and intermediate sections).

PowerShell commands to manage ciphers:

Get list of all allowed ciphers in computer: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/module/tls/get-tlsciphersuite
Disable ciphers: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/module/tls/disable-tlsciphersuite
Enable ciphers: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/module/tls/enable-tlsciphersuite

More information about how to configure ciphers on Windows systems: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/245030/how-to-restrict-the-use-of-certain-cryptographic-algorithms-and-protoc

Database User Least Privileges

While it's easiest to run QPR ProcessAnalyzer with a database user assigned the db_owner permissions, it's more safe to restrict the database permissions only to needed. The minimum permissions for QPR ProcessAnalyzer are the following:

db_datareader fixed database role
db_datawriter fixed database role
user defined role with the following permissions:
- VIEW DATABASE STATE
- EXECUTE on TYPE::PA_TABLETYPE_BigInt
- EXECUTE on TYPE::PA_TABLETYPE_NVarCharMax
- ALTER
- REFERENCES

Configure QPR ProcessAnalyzer to run with minimum permissions as follows:

In the QPR ProcessAnalyzer database, click Security > Roles > Database Roles > Create Database Role....
Give a name to the role (e.g. AdditionalPermissions) and click OK.
To give permissions to the role, run the following commands:

GRANT VIEW DATABASE STATE to AdditionalPermissions
GRANT EXECUTE on TYPE::PA_TABLETYPE_BigInt to AdditionalPermissions
GRANT EXECUTE on TYPE::PA_TABLETYPE_NVarCharMax to AdditionalPermissions
GRANT ALTER to AdditionalPermissions
GRANT REFERENCES to AdditionalPermissions

4. Assign needed roles to the database user by clicking Security > Users and double click the database user. Go to Membership tab and check that following roles are assigned:

db_datareader
db_datawrite
user defined role created earlier

Disable 8.3 File Name Creation

In order to disable short names creation, add a registry key named NtfsDisable8dot3NameCreation to HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem and set its value to 1. Note that in the computer, there may be other applications that require 8.3 file names and thus may stop working.

Example Powershell script to disable 8.3 file name creation:

Set-ItemProperty -Path HKLM:\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem -Name NtfsDisable8dot3NameCreation -Value 1

More information: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/121007/how-to-disable-8-3-file-name-creation-on-ntfs-partitions

White-list allowed source IP addresses

Security can be improved by restricting (white-listing) from which source IP addresses connections to the QPR ProcessAnalyzer UI and API can be established. This restriction is typically set in the firewall which can be part of the network infrastructure or it can be in the server machine. If taking this method into use, considered the effort to maintain the up-to-date list of allowed IP addresses versus the gained benefit of the restriction.

HTTP Response Headers

This chapter contains information about security related HTTP response headers that are added or removed in QPR ProcessAnalyzer. Thus, no actions are required regarding these HTTP response headers.

Added HTTP Headers

Following security related HTTP headers are set:

Content-Security-Policy
- Name: Content-Security-Policy
- Value: default-src 'none';script-src 'self' 'unsafe-eval';style-src 'self' 'unsafe-inline';img-src 'self' data: blob:;connect-src 'self';font-src 'self' data:;manifest-src 'self';child-src 'self';frame-src *;
Strict-Transport-Security (Note: HTTPS is required)
- Name: Strict-Transport-Security
- Value: max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains
X-Frame-Options:
- Name: X-Frame-Options
- Value: sameorigin
X-Content-Type-Options:
- Name: X-Content-Type-Options
- Value: nosniff

More information:

Removed HTTP Headers

By default, IIS returns the X-Powered-By HTTP response header that has been removed in QPR ProcessAnalyzer. More information: https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/varunm/2013/04/23/remove-unwanted-http-response-headers/

By default, IIS 10.0 returns Server header in http response that has been removed in QPR ProcessAnalyzer. More information: https://www.saotn.org/remove-iis-server-version-http-response-header/#removeserverheader-requestfiltering-in-iis-10-0

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-The following list provides recommendations for improving (hardening) the security of QPR UI installation.
+This article provides recommendations for improving (hardening) the security of QPR ProcessAnalyzer Server installation. In addition to the server hardening, there are also hardening instructions for [[QPR_ProcessAnalyzer_ScriptLauncher#Hardening_ScriptLauncher_Security|QPR ScriptLauncher]] installations.
-==System Hardening==
+== Disable SSL, TLS 1.0 and TLS 1.1 ==
+Transport Layer Security (TLS) is used to encrypt connections with clients, such as web browsers. SSL 2.0, SSL 3.0, TLS 1.0 and TLS 1.1 are no longer adequately secure, so it's recommended to only allow clients to connect with TLS 1.2 or TLS 1.3 (preferred). However, some client devices might not support TLS 1.2, so you might need to keep TLS 1.0 and/or TLS 1.1 enabled.
-=== Disable SSL, TLS 1.0 and TLS 1.1, Ensure TLS 1.2 Enabled ===
-Transport Layer Security (TLS) is used to encrypt connections with clients, such as web browsers. SSL 2.0, SSL 3.0, TLS 1.0 and TLS 1.1 are no longer adequately secure, so we recommend to only allow clients to connect with TLS 1.2. However, some client devices might not support TLS 1.2, so you might need to keep TLS 1.0 and/or TLS 1.1 enabled.
 Here is a Powershell script to disable TLS 1.0 and TLS 1.1 and enable TLS 1.2:
 <pre>
-#Disable TLS 1.0 and TLS 1.1
 New-Item -Path "HKLM:\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\SecurityProviders\SCHANNEL\Protocols\TLS 1.0\Client\" -Force
 Set-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\SecurityProviders\SCHANNEL\Protocols\TLS 1.0\Client\" -Name Enabled -Type Dword -Value 0
@@ Line 15: / Line 12: @@
 Set-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\SecurityProviders\SCHANNEL\Protocols\TLS 1.0\Server\" -Name Enabled -Type Dword -Value 0
 New-Item -Path "HKLM:\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\SecurityProviders\SCHANNEL\Protocols\TLS 1.1\Client\" -Force
 Set-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\SecurityProviders\SCHANNEL\Protocols\TLS 1.1\Client\" -Name DisabledByDefault -Type Dword -Value 1
 New-Item -Path "HKLM:\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\SecurityProviders\SCHANNEL\Protocols\TLS 1.1\Server\" -Force
 Set-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\SecurityProviders\SCHANNEL\Protocols\TLS 1.1\Server\" -Name DisabledByDefault -Type Dword -Value 1
-#Enable TLS 1.2
 New-Item -Path "HKLM:\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\SecurityProviders\SCHANNEL\Protocols\TLS 1.2\Client\" -Force
 Set-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\SecurityProviders\SCHANNEL\Protocols\TLS 1.2\Client\" -Name DisabledByDefault -Type Dword -Value 0
@@ Line 30: / Line 27: @@
 More information: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/187498/how-to-disable-pct-1-0-ssl-2-0-ssl-3-0-or-tls-1-0-in-internet-informat
-=== Disable Weak Ciphers ===
+== Disable Weak Ciphers ==
-The Triple-DES cipher is no longer adequate to encrypt sessions on the internet. Specifically, running Triple-DES ciphers leaves the server vulnerable to information disclosure and denial of service attacks. You can learn more at the National Vulnerability Database webpage for [https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2016-2183 CVE-2016-2183].
+Use only cipher suites that are considered secure. The up-to-date information regarding security of specific ciphers can be checked here: https://ciphersuite.info/ (use only the ciphers that are classified as ''recommended'' or ''secure''). The up-to-date list of the recommended ciphers (maintained by Mozilla) are also available as json format: https://ssl-config.mozilla.org/guidelines/5.6.json (use only the ciphers in the ''modern'' and ''intermediate'' sections).
+PowerShell commands to manage ciphers:
+* Get list of all allowed ciphers in computer: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/module/tls/get-tlsciphersuite
+* Disable ciphers: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/module/tls/disable-tlsciphersuite
+* Enable ciphers: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/module/tls/enable-tlsciphersuite
+More information about how to configure ciphers on Windows systems: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/245030/how-to-restrict-the-use-of-certain-cryptographic-algorithms-and-protoc
-Here is a Powershell script to disable Triple-DES cipher:
+== Database User Least Privileges ==
+While it's easiest to run QPR ProcessAnalyzer with a database user assigned the [https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/relational-databases/security/authentication-access/database-level-roles?view=sql-server-ver15 db_owner] permissions, it's more safe to restrict the database permissions only to needed. The minimum permissions for QPR ProcessAnalyzer are the following:
+* db_datareader fixed database role
+* db_datawriter fixed database role
+* user defined role with the following permissions:
+** VIEW DATABASE STATE
+** EXECUTE on TYPE::PA_TABLETYPE_BigInt
+** EXECUTE on TYPE::PA_TABLETYPE_NVarCharMax
+** ALTER
+** REFERENCES
+Configure QPR ProcessAnalyzer to run with minimum permissions as follows:
+# In the QPR ProcessAnalyzer database, click '''Security''' > '''Roles''' > '''Database Roles''' > '''Create Database Role...'''.
+# Give a name to the role (e.g. ''AdditionalPermissions'') and click '''OK'''.
+# To give permissions to the role, run the following commands:
 <pre>
-#Disable Triple-DES
+GRANT VIEW DATABASE STATE to AdditionalPermissions
-New-Item -path "HKLM:\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\SecurityProviders\SCHANNEL\Ciphers\Triple DES 168" -Force
+GRANT EXECUTE on TYPE::PA_TABLETYPE_BigInt to AdditionalPermissions
-Set-ItemProperty  -path "HKLM:\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\SecurityProviders\SCHANNEL\Ciphers\Triple DES 168" -Name Enabled -Type Dword -Value 0
+GRANT EXECUTE on TYPE::PA_TABLETYPE_NVarCharMax to AdditionalPermissions
+GRANT ALTER to AdditionalPermissions
+GRANT REFERENCES to AdditionalPermissions
 </pre>
+. Assign needed roles to the database user by clicking '''Security''' > '''Users''' and double click the database user. Go to '''Membership''' tab and check that following roles are assigned:
+* db_datareader
+* db_datawrite
+* user defined role created earlier
-More information: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/245030/how-to-restrict-the-use-of-certain-cryptographic-algorithms-and-protoc
+==Disable 8.3 File Name Creation==
-=== Disable 8.3 File Name Creation===
 In order to disable short names creation, add a registry key named '''NtfsDisable8dot3NameCreation''' to '''HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem''' and set its value to '''1'''. Note that in the computer, there may be other applications that require 8.3 file names and thus may stop working.
-Here is an example of Powershell script to disable 8.3 file name creation:
+Example Powershell script to disable 8.3 file name creation:
 <pre>
-#Disable 8.3 File Name Creation
 Set-ItemProperty -Path HKLM:\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem -Name NtfsDisable8dot3NameCreation -Value 1
 </pre>
@@ Line 53: / Line 74: @@
 More information: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/121007/how-to-disable-8-3-file-name-creation-on-ntfs-partitions
-==Hardening Security with IIS Settings==
+==White-list allowed source IP addresses==
+Security can be improved by restricting (white-listing) from which source IP addresses connections to the QPR ProcessAnalyzer UI and API can be established. This restriction is typically set in the firewall which can be part of the network infrastructure or it can be in the server machine. If taking this method into use, considered the effort to maintain the up-to-date list of allowed IP addresses versus the gained benefit of the restriction.
-=== Add Security Related HTTP Headers ===
-The HTTP Strict-Transport-Security response header (often abbreviated as HSTS) lets a web site tell browsers that it should only be accessed using HTTPS, instead of using HTTP. The HTTP Content-Security-Policy response header allows web site administrators to control resources the user agent is allowed to load for a given page.
+==HTTP Response Headers==
+This chapter contains information about security related HTTP response headers that are added or removed in QPR ProcessAnalyzer. Thus, no actions are required regarding these HTTP response headers.
-# In '''Internet Information Services (IIS) Console''', click '''ui''' folder in the left side hierarchy, double-click '''HTTP Response Headers''', click '''Add...''' on the right side pane, and define the following:
+=== Added HTTP Headers ===
+Following security related HTTP headers are set:
 # Content-Security-Policy
 #* Name: '''Content-Security-Policy'''
-#* Value: '''default-src 'none';script-src 'self' 'unsafe-inline' 'unsafe-eval';style-src 'self' 'unsafe-inline';img-src 'self' data:;connect-src 'self';font-src 'self' data:;manifest-src 'self';child-src 'self' https://devnet.onqpr.com/;'''
+#* Value: '''default-src 'none';script-src 'self' 'unsafe-eval';style-src 'self' 'unsafe-inline';img-src 'self' data: blob:;connect-src 'self';font-src 'self' data:;manifest-src 'self';child-src 'self';frame-src *;'''
-# Strict-Transport-Security
+# Strict-Transport-Security (Note: HTTPS is required)
 #* Name: '''Strict-Transport-Security'''
 #* Value: '''max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains'''
-# X-XSS-Protection
-#* Name: '''X-XSS-Protection'''
-#* Value: '''1; mode=block'''
 # X-Frame-Options:
 #* Name: '''X-Frame-Options'''
-#* Value: '''deny'''
+#* Value: '''sameorigin'''
 # X-Content-Type-Options:
 #* Name: '''X-Content-Type-Options'''
 #* Value: '''nosniff'''
-Here is a Powershell script to add X-XSS-Protection, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options HTTP Response Headers:
-<pre>
-#Add X-XSS-Protection, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options HTTP Response Headers to IIS
-Add-WebConfigurationProperty -pspath 'MACHINE/WEBROOT/APPHOST/Default Web Site/ui'  -filter "system.webServer/httpProtocol/customHeaders" -name "." -value @{name='X-XSS-Protection';value='1; mode=block'}
-Add-WebConfigurationProperty -pspath 'MACHINE/WEBROOT/APPHOST/Default Web Site/ui'  -filter "system.webServer/httpProtocol/customHeaders" -name "." -value @{name='X-Frame-Options';value='deny'}
-Add-WebConfigurationProperty -pspath 'MACHINE/WEBROOT/APPHOST/Default Web Site/ui'  -filter "system.webServer/httpProtocol/customHeaders" -name "." -value @{name='X-Content-Type-Options';value='nosniff'}
-</pre>
 More information:
+* https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTTP/CSP
 * https://content-security-policy.com/
 * https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTTP/Headers/Strict-Transport-Security
-* https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTTP/Headers/X-XSS-Protection
 * https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTTP/Headers/X-Frame-Options
 * https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTTP/Headers/X-Content-Type-Options
-=== Remove X-Powered-By HTTP Header ===
+=== Removed HTTP Headers ===
-Removing the X-Powered-By HTTP response header improved security, because the underlying technology is not revealed publicly. This step applies only when IIS is used as a [[Setting up IIS as Reverse Proxy for QPR UI|reverse proxy for QPR UI]].
+By default, IIS returns the '''X-Powered-By''' HTTP response header that has been removed in QPR ProcessAnalyzer. More information: https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/varunm/2013/04/23/remove-unwanted-http-response-headers/
-# In '''Internet Information Services (IIS) Console''', click the top level in the left side hierarchy:
-# Double-click '''HTTP Response Headers'''
-# Click on the '''X-Powered-By''' header
-# Click '''Remove''' on the right side pane to remove it from the response.
-Here is a Powershell script to remove X-Powered-By HTTP Response Header:
+By default, IIS 10.0 returns '''Server''' header in http response that has been removed in QPR ProcessAnalyzer. More information: https://www.saotn.org/remove-iis-server-version-http-response-header/#removeserverheader-requestfiltering-in-iis-10-0
-<pre>
-#Remove X-Powered-By HTTP Response Header in IIS
-Remove-WebConfigurationProperty  -pspath 'MACHINE/WEBROOT/APPHOST/Default Web Site/ui'  -filter "system.webServer/httpProtocol/customHeaders" -name "." -AtElement @{name='X-Powered-By'}
-</pre>
-More information: https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/varunm/2013/04/23/remove-unwanted-http-response-headers/
+[[Category: QPR ProcessAnalyzer]]

QPR ProcessAnalyzer Security Hardening: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 23:08, 27 December 2023

Contents

Disable SSL, TLS 1.0 and TLS 1.1

Disable Weak Ciphers

Database User Least Privileges

Disable 8.3 File Name Creation

White-list allowed source IP addresses

HTTP Response Headers

Added HTTP Headers

Removed HTTP Headers

Navigation menu

QPR ProcessAnalyzer Security Hardening: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 23:08, 27 December 2023

Disable SSL, TLS 1.0 and TLS 1.1

Disable Weak Ciphers

Database User Least Privileges

Disable 8.3 File Name Creation

White-list allowed source IP addresses

HTTP Response Headers

Added HTTP Headers

Removed HTTP Headers

Navigation menu

Search