User-ID agent probes clients with WMI
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
When probing runs, WMI authenticates to client systems with a directory account, which can expose that account's credentials to any host that answers, including one placed to capture them.
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.
- Uncheck Enable Probing under Device, User Identification, User Mapping, Palo Alto Networks User-ID Agent Setup, and map users from security logs or the XML API instead.
Command line
PAN-OS CLI, standalone firewall, vsys1
set vsys vsys1 user-id-collector setting enable-probing noAn 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 user-id-collector settingHow to confirm the fix
- Confirm user mappings still arrive from the remaining sources.
Limits
- Probing set on a Windows User-ID agent lives on that host and is not judged.
- A vsys that does not write the setting is read as probing off: the CIS benchmark states that WMI probing is disabled by default.
Compliance references
CIS Palo Alto Firewall 11 Benchmark v1.2.0
Covers part of the recommendation
Where a control aligns with a recommendation of the CIS Palo Alto Firewall 11 Benchmark v1.2.0, that recommendation is cited as a reference. Only that version was checked. A reference is not a certification.
More in Identity and Authentication
- 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-132User-ID is enabled and no include or exclude network is listed
- PAN-SEC-165An authentication policy rule is configured with a single factor
- ISE-SEC-006Authentication continues after a failure
- ISE-SEC-009Allowed protocols accept weak authentication
See it on your own firewall
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