Local user database account is enabled beside external authentication
At a glance
Base severity
Area
Platform
Evidence level
Benchmark reference
Reads the export, not the device
ConfigProof reads a configuration export. This control is evaluated against the objects in that file, and it reports what the file says. It does not connect to the device and sees no traffic, so a finding here describes the configuration, not what the firewall is doing right now.
Why it matters
Accounts in the local user database sign in wherever a local database authentication profile is used: GlobalProtect, captive portal or administrator logins. Often that is deliberate emergency access for the day the directory is down. Such an account sits outside the directory's password rotation, multi-factor enforcement and offboarding, so it is the one nobody changes when a person leaves.
How to fix it
Web interface
The steps below are written for the web interface. A finding raised on your own export carries the same steps with your object names filled in.
- Confirm the account is a documented break-glass account with a named owner.
- Store its password in a vault and rotate it on a schedule and after every use.
- Disable local accounts that are not break-glass accounts.
Command line
PAN-OS CLI, standalone firewall, vsys1
set vsys vsys1 local-user-database user <object-name> disabled yesAn example. Values in angle brackets are yours to supply; a finding on your own export fills in the names it read. Nothing here commits. Review the candidate configuration, then commit it yourself.
Read it back
show vsys vsys1 local-user-database user <object-name>Values to fill in1
- <object-name>
- The object's name, as it appears on your firewall
Before you type it1
- Keep one working administrator you can still sign in with.
How to confirm the fix
- Confirm the account appears in the break-glass register.
- Confirm the directory-backed login still works for everyday administrators.
Limits
- Which profile allows the account, and where that profile is used, is not decided here: the management authentication setting and captive portal settings are not read.
Compliance references
No benchmark recommendation is mapped to this control in this version.
More in Identity and Authentication
- PAN-SEC-064LDAP server profile binds without transport security
- PAN-SEC-065Authentication binding points at something that does not exist
- PAN-SEC-066Authentication server profile is referenced by nothing
- PAN-SEC-080Authentication sequence has a single member
- PAN-SEC-114LDAP server profile does not verify the server certificate
- PAN-SEC-115RADIUS server profile authenticates with PAP or CHAP
- PAN-SEC-129Authentication profile does not lock accounts after failed logins
- PAN-SEC-131User-ID agent probes clients with WMI
See it on your own firewall
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