Veritas NetBackup™ Appliance Security Guide
- About the NetBackup appliance Security Guide
- User authentication
- About user authentication on the NetBackup appliance
- About configuring user authentication
- About user name and password specifications
- User authorization
- Intrusion prevention and intrusion detection systems
- Log files
- Operating system security
- Data security
- Web security
- Network security
- Call Home security
- Remote Management Module (RMM) security
- STIG and FIPS conformance
- Appendix A. Security release content
About NetBackup appliance operating system security
NetBackup appliances use the Veritas operating system (VxOS), which is a customized Linux operating system. Each NetBackup appliance software release includes the latest versions of VxOS and NetBackup software. In addition to regular security patches and updates, VxOS includes the following security enhancements and features:
An updated and trimmed Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)-based OS platform that enables the packaging and installation of all the necessary software components on a compatible and a robust hardware platform.
Hardening for VxOS based on security standards from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and RHEL. Additional security is provided by Symantec Data Center Security (SDCS).
Symantec Data Center Security: Server Advanced (SDCS) intrusion prevention and intrusion detection software that hardens VxOS and protects the backup data by isolating and sandboxing each process and all system files.
Regular scan of the appliance with industry-recognized vulnerability scanners. Any discovered vulnerabilities are patched in regular releases of the appliance software and with emergency engineering binaries (EEBs). If security threats are identified between release schedules, you can contact Veritas Support for a known resolution.
Unused service accounts are removed or disabled.
VxOS includes edited kernel parameters that secure the appliance against attacks such as denial of service (DoS). For example, the sysctl setting
net.ipv4.tcp_syncookies
has been added to/etc/sysctl.conf
configuration file to implement TCP SYN cookies.Unnecessary runlevel services are disabled. VxOS uses runlevels to determine the services that should be running and to allow specific work to be done on the system.
FTP, telnet, and rlogin (rsh) are disabled. Usage is limited to ssh, scp, and sftp.
Note:
Starting with NetBackup Appliance release 3.1.2, the
telnet
packaged has been removed from VxOS to comply with the STIG feature when it is enabled on NetBackup appliances. Thetelnet
protocol is not secure or encrypted. The use of an unencrypted transmission medium could allow an unauthorized user to steal credentials. Thessh
package provides an encrypted session and stronger security, and is included in VxOS.TCP forwarding for SSH is disabled with the addition of
AllowTcpForwarding no
andX11Forwarding no
to/etc/ssh/sshd_config
.IP forwarding is disabled in VxOS and does not allow routing on the TCP/IP stack. This feature prevents a host on one subnet from using the appliance as a router to access a host on another subnet.
NetBackup appliances do not allow IP aliasing (configuring multiple IP addresses) on the network interface. This feature prevents access to multiple network segments on one NIC port.
The UMASK value determines the file permission for newly created files. It specifies the permissions that should not be given by default to the newly created file. Although the default value of UMASK in most UNIX systems is 022, UMASK is set to 077 for the NetBackup appliance.
The permissions of all the world-writable files that are found in VxOS are searched and fixed.
The permissions of all the orphaned and unowned files and directories that are found in VxOS are searched and fixed.
Starting with software version 3.1, SMBv1 protocol has been disabled and replaced with SMBv2 protocol. SMBv1 protocol is vulnerable to ransomware attacks such as
WannaCry
andPetya
, and is no longer considered as secure. SMBv2 is now the minimum supported protocol for NetBackup appliances.