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Status Not under consideration
Workspace Db2 for z/OS
Created by Guest
Created on Jan 19, 2024

RELATED IDEAS

Db2 native and RACF security consistency requirement

This is especially important for shops like ours where for years DB2 native security and migrate to RACF security to be complaint with security audit and policies, and also new mainframe applications standards. There is multiple areas where currently the native db2 security behavior is different from RACF security behavior with the same authorizations being granted/permitted to authID executing process. For instance, DROP TABLESPACE does not honour implicit ownership authorizations and many more.

We understand there are some areas where this is not possible directly and might require a bit of coding, and in some areas it is just not coded the same for unknown reasons.

The result of this is that it is extremly difficult to complete the migration of the big, complex, aged environment and not getting into any security issues during the process. It must be stressed out, that such migration is online process in live system so consistency of the definitions in DB2 and RACF is vital to avoid issues.

The best solution here is firstly to make sure those 2 are consistent, and we would also see a zparm switch where the customer can decide if they want to use RACF that is the exact copy of the DB2 native behavior, or use currently coded inconsistent way should they consider it "better" functionally. For instance zparm DB2_RACF_SECURITY with values allowed NATIVE (meaning consistent) and RACF (whatever is different with RACF).

Needed By Yesterday (Let's go already!)
  • Admin
    Janet Figone
    Reply
    |     May 6, 2024

    Dear Ryszard, Thank you for submitting this enhancement request. The Db2 for z/OS development team reviewed it and will not be considering this idea. Please be aware that the authorization checks performed between Db2 native and RACF exit were never intended to be identical for all operations, as both products have different security model. Customers choose the authorization control that works better for them.

    The following ideas were considered for this Aha idea:

    Honor implicit ownership for all authorization checks:

    With RACF exit authorization, the access due to implicit ownership is currently supported for some privileges. This Aha idea is to honor implicit ownership for all authorization checks. The implicit ownership check is done in the access control authorization exit. Since RACF is not involved, the access due to implicit ownership check cannot be audited in RACF. The industry best practice is to have audit trail for all access checks in the audited product. Hence, it is not consistent with Db2 product direction to support all implicit ownership checks for RACF authorization.

    ICH408I message for EXPLAIN statement when the operation is successful:

    To issue the SQL EXPLAIN statement, EXPLAIN is the least privilege required. Db2 first checks for EXPLAIN privilege and if the user does not have EXPLAIN privilege, Db2 then checks for the statement-level privilege. The EXPLAIN statement can be successful if the user has statement-level privilege. If EXPLAIN privilege check fails, ICH408I message may be issued depending on the RACF configuration. If IFCID 140 trace is turned ON to audit failures, an audit record is written for EXPLAIN authorization failure. Hence, it is consistent with Db2 native behavior of how failures are audited. It is high cost to suppress the ICH408I message for the EXPLAIN check and re-drive the authorization checks for audit purposes.

    ICH408I message for BIND process when the operation is successful:

    During BIND process, Db2 can check multiple IDs as documented. Db2 first checks the owner for the required privileges. If the owner does not have the privileges, then the binder is checked for administrative authority. The bind process is successful if the binder has administrative authority. Depending on the RACF configuration, ICH408I message may be issued if the owner does not have the least privileges required for bind. If IFCID 140 trace is turned ON to audit failures, an audit record is written for this owner authorization failure. Hence, it is consistent with Db2 native behavior of how failures are audited. Since two different IDs are checked for authorization in this scenario, the failure messages cannot be suppressed.

    We appreciate your input to the Db2 for z/OS development team. And we hope that you will continue to submit enhancement suggestions for improvements as customer feedback is a key component to shaping the future direction of Db2 for z/OS.


    Sincerely,

    Db2 for z/OS Team


  • Guest
    Reply
    |     Jan 19, 2024

    One of the worst inconsistencies today is where false ICH408I messages are given but the actual operation completes successfully .... How to explain this to an auditor I do not know.

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