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Disable 'external scripts enabled' Flag for SQL Server Database Instances

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Risk Level: High (not acceptable risk)
Rule ID: CloudSQL-019

Ensure that the "external scripts enabled" database flag is turned off for your Google Cloud SQL Server database instances in order to disable the execution of scripts with certain remote language extensions.

This rule resolution is part of the Conformity Security & Compliance tool for GCP.

Security

The External Scripts Enabled feature, configured by the "external scripts enabled" database flag, allows scripts external to SQL Server such as files located in an R library to be executed, which could negatively affect the security of the system, therefore the "external scripts enabled" flag should be disabled.

Note: Some database flag settings can affect instance availability and/or stability, and eventually remove the SQL Server instance from the Google Cloud SQL Service Level Agreement (SLA).


Audit

To determine if the "external scripts enabled" flag is disabled for your SQL Server database instances, perform the following actions:

Using GCP Console

01 Sign in to the Google Cloud Management Console.

02 Select the Google Cloud Platform (GCP) project that you want to access from the top navigation bar.

03 Navigate to Cloud SQL Instances dashboard at https://console.cloud.google.com/sql/instances.

04 Click inside the Filter box, select Type and SQL Server <version>, then press Enter to list only the SQL Server database instances provisioned for the selected GCP project.

05 Click on the name (ID) of the database instance that you want to examine.

06 In the navigation panel, select Overview to access the configuration details available for the selected SQL Server instance.

07 In the Configuration section, under Database flags, check the configuration value set for the external scripts enabled database flag. If the external scripts enabled flag is set to on, the "external scripts enabled" database flag is enabled for the selected Google Cloud SQL Server database instance, therefore the instance configuration is not compliant.

08 Repeat step no. 5 – 7 to check the "external scripts enabled" flag value for other SQL Server instances available within the selected project.

09 Repeat steps no. 2 – 8 for each project deployed in your Google Cloud account.

Using GCP CLI

01 Run projects list command (Windows/macOS/Linux) with custom query filters to list the IDs of all the GCP projects available within your Google Cloud account:

gcloud projects list
  --format="table(projectId)"

02 The command output should return the requested GCP project identifiers:

PROJECT_ID
cc-ms-web-project-123123
cc-ms-data-project-123123

03 Run sql instances list command (Windows/macOS/Linux) with custom filtering to describe the name of each SQL Server database instance provisioned for the selected Google Cloud project:

gcloud sql instances list
  --project cc-ms-web-project-123123
  --filter='DATABASE_VERSION:SQLSERVER*'
  --format="(NAME)"

04 The command output should return the requested database instance name(s):

NAME:
cc-web-sql-server-instance
cc-app-sql-server-instance

05 Run sql instances describe command (Windows/macOS/Linux) using the name of the SQL Server database instance that you want to examine as the identifier parameter and custom query filters to describe the "external scripts enabled" flag configuration value set for the selected database instance:

gcloud sql instances describe cc-web-sql-server-instance
  --format=json | jq '.settings.databaseFlags[] | select(.name=="external scripts enabled")|.value'

06 The command output should return the requested flag configuration value:

"on"

If the sql instances describe command output returns "on", as shown in the output example above, the "external scripts enabled" database flag is currently enabled for the selected Google Cloud SQL Server database instance, therefore the database configuration is not compliant.

07 Repeat steps no. 5 and 6 to verify the "external scripts enabled" flag value for other SQL Server instances created for the selected project.

08 Repeat steps no. 3 – 7 for each project created within your Google Cloud account.

Remediation / Resolution

To disable the "external scripts enabled" database flag for your Google Cloud SQL Server database instances, perform the following actions:

Using GCP Console

01 Sign in to the Google Cloud Management Console.

02 Select the Google Cloud Platform (GCP) project that you want to access from the top navigation bar.

03 Navigate to Cloud SQL Instances dashboard at https://console.cloud.google.com/sql/instances.

04 Click inside the Filter box, select Type and SQL Server <version>, then press Enter to display only the SQL Server database instances provisioned for the selected GCP project.

05 Click on the name (ID) of the database instance that you want to reconfigure.

06 In the navigation panel, select Overview to access the configuration details available for the selected SQL Server instance.

07 Choose Edit from the dashboard top menu to modify the instance configuration.

08 In the Customize your instance section, choose Flags and parameters to expand the panel with the database flags and parameters configured for the selected SQL Server instance.

09 Find the external scripts enabled flag and disable it by selecting Off from the Value dropdown list associated with the flag. Select DONE to close the panel.

IMPORTANT: Configuring "external scripts enabled" flag restarts automatically the selected database instance.

10 Choose SAVE to apply the configuration changes. In the Changes require restart confirmation box, choose SAVE AND RESTART.

11 Repeat steps no. 5 – 10 to disable the specified flag for other SQL Server database instances available within the selected GCP project.

12 Repeat steps no. 2 – 11 for each project deployed in your Google Cloud account.

Using GCP CLI

01 Run sql instances patch command (Windows/macOS/Linux) using the name of the SQL Server database instance that you want to reconfigure as the identifier parameters, to disable the "external scripts enabled" database flag for the selected SQL Server instance:

gcloud sql instances patch cc-web-sql-server-instance
  --database-flags "external scripts enabled=off"

IMPORTANT: Configuring "external scripts enabled" flag restarts automatically the selected database instance.

02 Type Y to confirm the database configuration change:

The following message will be used for the patch API method.

{"name": "cc-web-sql-server-instance", "project": "cc-ms-web-project-123123", "settings": {"databaseFlags": [{"name": "external scripts enabled", "value": "off"}]}}
WARNING: This patch modifies database flag values, which may require your instance to be restarted. Check the list of supported flags - https://cloud.google.com/sql/docs/sqlserver/flags - to see if your instance will be restarted when this patch is submitted.

Do you want to continue (Y/n)? Y

03 The output should return the sql instances patch command request status:

Patching Cloud SQL instance...done.

Updated
[https://sqladmin.googleapis.com/sql/v1beta4/projects/cc-ms-web-project-12312/instances/cc-web-sql-server-instance].

04 Repeat steps no. 1 – 3 to disable the specified flag for other SQL Server database instances provisioned for the selected GCP project.

05 Repeat steps no. 1 – 4 for each project created within your Google Cloud account.

References

Publication date Apr 12, 2021

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Disable 'external scripts enabled' Flag for SQL Server Database Instances

Risk Level: High