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cis-cassandra311-3.1

DevOps & Security
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Ensure the cassandra and superuser roles are separate

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3.1 Ensure the cassandra and superuser roles are separate

Profile Applicability

  • Level 1 - Cassandra
  • Level 2 - Cassandra
  • Level 1 - Cassandra on Linux
  • Level 2 - Cassandra on Linux

Description

The default installation of Cassandra includes a superuser role named cassandra. This necessitates the creation of a separate role to be the superuser role.

Rationale

Superuser permissions allow for the creation, deletion, and permission management of other users. Considering the cassandra role is well known it should not be a superuser or one which is used for any administrative tasks.

Impact

The separate account must be created, assigned the superuser role, and tested for correct functionality prior to removing the superuser role from the cassandra account. Otherwise,

Audit

To verify the configuration, run the following query:

select role, is_superuser from system_auth.roles;

If cassandra or any unapproved role is returned, this is a finding.

Remediation

To remediate a misconfiguration, perform the following steps:

  1. Execute the following command:

Note: Replace <NEW_ROLE_HERE> with the desired role and <NEW_PASSWORD_HERE> with a password.

  1. Verify the new role is working.
  2. Remove the superuser role from the cassandra account by executing the following command:
UPDATE system_auth.roles SET is_superuser=null WHERE role='cassandra'

Default Value

The cassandra role is created with superuser privileges by default.

References

Not specified in the benchmark.

CIS Controls

  • v8: 5.4 Restrict Administrator Privileges to Dedicated Administrator Accounts
  • v7: 4.3 Ensure the Use of Dedicated Administrative Accounts

Profile

  • Level 1 | Automated